Support bill on triple talaq and nikah halala, Prasad tells Rahul
New Delhi, July 17: A day after Congress President Rahul Gandhi sought the Prime Minister's support for the passage of the Women's Reservation Bill, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Tuesday asked him to support the proposed law to prohibit triple talaq and nikah halala.
He said that as national parties, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress cannot have two sets of standards in dealing with women and their rights.
In a letter to Gandhi, which was released to the media, Prasad said: "As part of the new deal, we should approve, in both houses of Parliament, the Women's Reservation Bill, the law prohibiting triple talaq and imposing penal consequence on those who violate the law, and prohibiting nikah halala."
Under the triple talaq practice, a Muslim man can instantly divorce his wife by orally repeating the 'talaq' word thrice. As per 'nikah halala', a woman divorcee has to marry someone else, consummate this marriage to get a divorce and remarry her earlier husband.
Prasad's letter came a day after Gandhi wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to seek his support for the passage of the Women's Reservation Bill in Parliament's monsoon session starting on July 18, claiming that the BJP appears to have had second thoughts on the proposed law even though it was a key promise in its 2014 manifesto.
"As national parties, we cannot have two sets of standards in dealing with women and their rights. We are already too late in conferring the right of adequate representation, equality in personal laws and doing away with such provisions which compromise women's dignity," Prasad said.
The BJP leader also targeted the Congress chief over the lapsing of the Women's Reservation Bill with the dissolution of the last Lok Sabha.
"The bill was originally proposed by the National Democratic Alliance government headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee but could not be passed for want of a consensus in Parliament.
"It was reintroduced during the UPA-II government in the Rajya Sabha. Despite disturbances, the BJP and NDA stood in firm support of the bill and got it passed in the Rajya Sabha. For reasons best known to the government of that day, no effort was made to get the bill passed in the Lok Sabha," Prasad said.
The Minister said that the Modi government welcomes Gandhi's initiative to support the bill. "However, the government will like to understand fully the reasons why the bill was not taken up for three years by the UPA government in the Lok Sabha and allowed to lapse?"
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Cong demands TN governor's sacking over his 'secularism is European concept' remark
New Delhi (PTI): The Congress Monday slammed as "outrageous and unacceptable" Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi's remark that "secularism is a European concept" and demanded his immediate sacking.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh claimed that Ravi is "only a trial balloon floater" and is echoing what Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to get done.
Ramesh's remarks came after Ravi said secularism is a European concept that evolved after a conflict between the church and the king whereas Bharat is a dharma-centric nation and therefore, it was not part of the Constitution but added during Emergency by "one insecure prime minister".
The Tamil Nadu governor, while addressing an event in the Kanyakumari district on Sunday, said a lot of frauds have been committed against the people of the country and one of those was a wrong interpretation of secularism.
Reacting to the remarks, Ramesh said, "This man, who has taken an oath on the Constitution and who -- inspite of his drumbeating -- remains a Constitutional functionary, should be sacked forthwith. He is a disgrace."
"This is not the first outrageous and unacceptable statement he has made. But he is only a trial balloon floater. He is echoing what the non-biological PM wants to get done," the Congress leader said.
Ravi had also said, "What does secularism mean? Secularism is a European concept, secularism is not a Bharatiya concept."
Decades later, during Emergency (1975-77), "one insecure prime minister," introduced secularism in the Constitution in order to appease some sections of people, the Governor alleged.
Indira Gandhi was the prime minister during Emergency.
Ravi further said that secularism emerged in Europe as there was a fight between the church and the king and in order to end this conflict, which went on for a long time, this concept was evolved.
At the time of Independence, when the Constitution was being drafted, a discussion came up on secularism and the Constituent Assembly rejected it observing that Bharat is a dharma-centric country and there has been no conflict, similar to what was witnessed in Europe, Ravi had claimed.
