Government intention not clear on triple talaq Bill: Congress

Congress on Saturday alleged that the government's intention was not clear on the triple talaq Bill as it failed to introduce it in the monsoon session.

Party spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Jairam Ramesh said the whole thing is a "political game."

"Ghulam Nabi Azad (Congress leader) had made it clear in the last session that there was no provision for triple talaq in Islamic norm and that it is practised by a certain section. So, a strong law is needed to deal with it. While making this law, we should not criminalize it," said Ramesh.

"This was the demand by all political parties including Congress, TMC, Left, Samajwadi Party, BSP, BJD, NCP, AIADMK. All these parties had said it must be referred to a select committee," he added.

"The government did not agree. Then suddenly, two days back, they passed the very amendments that Azad was suggesting."

The leader wondered what might have prompted the government to change its mind. "They did not take Opposition into confidence. They did not have a meeting, but they passed it. They came up with a revised legislation," he said.

On Friday, Chairman of the Rajya Sabha (Venkaiah Naidu) had said that after the Private Members Bill, the Insolvency Code and Commercial Courts Bill would be taken up.

"Normally, no important bills are taken on Friday, but as an exception, these two were taken up. The behaviour of Union ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad and Ananth Kumar in Rajya Sabha leads me to believe that this was part of a well-planned strategy," said Ramesh.

"They wanted to project that they wanted the Bill but the Congress and other parties did not. This is absolutely false," he added.

--IANS

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