Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 30 (PTI): Congress MP and AICC general secretary K C Venugopal on Saturday said the party would not allow the passage of the triple talaq Bill in its present form in the Rajya Sabha. The party would join hands with those parties which it can ally with to defeat the Bill in its present form, he told reporters here.
The Lok Sabha had on Thursday passed the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2018. It is expected to be considered by the Rajya Sabha next week.
The Alappuzha MP said there is no confusion either in the UPA or UDF (the Congress-led coalition in Kerala) over the Bill. “The Opposition parties are against the passing of the Bill in its present form. When the Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha, the 10 Opposition parties had objected to it and wanted that the Bill be left to the perusal of the standing committee. But the government did not heed the Opposition’s demand. Even AIADMK, which had supported the NDA on several issues, and TMC, have come out against the Bill,” he said.
“The criminal provision in the Bill that has envisaged three-year jail term for the husband would not lead to women empowerment. Instead, such a provision would only weaken the women,’’ he said.
He said the Bill was earlier passed in the Lok Sabha but could not be cleared in Rajya Sabha due to the stand of the Congress. “That is why the same Bill was presented in the Lok Sabha as an ordinance. The Congress would take a strong stand against the Bill in the Rajya Sabha. There is no confusion over it,” he said.
Meanwhile, several Muslim organisations in Kerala have criticised Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) MP P K Kunhalikutty over his absence in the Lok Sabha on the day the triple talaq Bill was passed. IUML is a Congress ally.
Indian National League, an ally of the CPI(M) in Kerala, said the absence of the IUML MP amounted to cheating the Muslim community.
Kunhalikutty said the controversy over his absence was unfortunate. “I have given an explanation to the party over the incident. It is not true that I kept away from voting to attend a marriage. There was a crucial meeting regarding the party newspaper Chandrika,” he told the media.