Rahul thwarted passage of triple talaq bill: Ananth Kumar
New Delhi, Aug 10 : After the triple talaq bill could not be taken up in the Rajya Sabha on Friday, the government blamed Congress President Rahul Gandhi for thwarting passage of the bill.
Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Ananth Kumar said even though the bill could not be taken up in the monsoon session, the government would keep on trying to protect the interests of Muslim women.
"We will keep the struggle on. Congress President Rahul Gandhi and his party are directly responsible for delaying the passage of the bill. They have blocked it from day one. They unnecessarily raised the issue of sending the bill to the select committee," Kumar told reporters outside the Parliament.
However, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi said her party's position is absolutely clear on the bill.
"Our party's position is absolutely clear on this. I will not say anything on this further," said Sonia Gandhi on the Triple Talaq bill.
"In Lok Sabha, there was absolute consensus when it was passed. Congress and other parties were also part of the discussion there. There was no division there. Then why they are blocking it in Rajya Sabha? This is the double standard of the Congress party ... they do something in Lok Sabha and the opposite in Rajya Sabha," he said, adding this is the true face of the Congress party.
"This is an injustice done to crores of Muslim women. Triple Talaq is a big issue of gender justice. I would urge the Congress to understand it and pass the bill with a consensus," Kumar said.
The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017 has been deferred to the next session of Parliament as the Rajya Sabha decided to not take it up on Friday, the last day of the monsoon session, Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu announced.
In the evening, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad insisted that the bill be taken up, but the Chairman said he would not proceed without a consensus on the issue.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
