Really? Is the Congress ready to finally put ‘Naari Nyay’ (justice to women) above its appeasement politics? Is it honestly prepared to grant parity to Muslim women with Muslim men in matters of marriage and divorce?
“In matters of marriage, succession, inheritance, adoption, guardianship, etc., women and men should have equal rights. We will review all the laws and ensure equality between men and women.” That is a pledge from the Congress party’s manifesto for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, released by its party president, Mallikharjun Kharge.
Really? Is the Congress ready to finally put ‘Naari Nyay’ (justice to women) above its appeasement politics? Is it honestly prepared to grant parity to Muslim women with Muslim men in matters of marriage and divorce? Will it ban polygamy, irrespective of religion? Will it give equal rights to men and women seeking divorce, regardless of their faith? Will it ban practices like triple talaq and make divorce a matter for the courts to decide? Does it plan to repeal the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act 1986, brought by Rajiv Gandhi, to deny destitute Muslim women the right to maintenance from husbands who divorce them? Is the Congress ready to finally put science above religion and give Muslim girls the same protection against child marriage, which the law extends to girls of other faiths? Will it discard the idea that a girl, just because she practices Islam, becomes physically, mentally, emotionally and psychologically ready for marriage the moment she attains puberty?
Suppose the Congress wants the Indian voter to take its pledge to give equal rights to men and women seriously. In that case, it should start by pledging to treat all women and all men equally, regardless of religion. It should begin with issuing a formal apology to Muslim women. For over seven decades, the Congress’ communal stance of ‘religion first’ had deprived Muslim women of the right to enjoy the same legal protections that women of other faiths enjoyed against patriarchal practices. Not only did it abstain from introducing progressive laws to protect Muslim women, it actively passed laws to deny access to rights granted to Muslim women by the Supreme Court of India. When the Supreme Court of India extended the right to maintenance for women divorcees of Islamic faith, the then Rajiv Gandhi government, which enjoyed a brute majority in the Lok Sabha, made a law to reverse the court’s judgement. To rub salt into their wounds, Rajiv even claimed he was bringing the law, which took away the right to maintenance, to protect the rights of Muslim women.
Next, the Congress should immediately declare support for introducing a Bill to enact a Uniform Civil Code (UCC). The Constitution enshrined UCC in Article 44 as a directive principle of state policy so that the Indian State can extend the same protections to all women against patriarchal practices, irrespective of their religion.
The Congress’s track record as a ruling party for more than five decades and as an opposition party for more than two decades provides ample evidence of its true nature. As they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. If the Congress had sincerely cared about women, no woman would have had to face the indignity of not having access to a toilet or a pucca roof over her head more than six decades after India’s independence. Tens of crores of Indian women should not have had to wait for an absolute majority-backed Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government to come to power to gain access to essentials like electricity, water, cooking gas or a bank account. If the Congress had shown any regard for women, the sex ratio at birth would not have declined to an abysmal 918 girls for every 1,000 boys by 2014.
The Congress habitually says one thing in its manifesto and does the opposite after elections. “Congress will repeal the Agricultural Produce Market Committees Act and make trade in agricultural produce — including exports and inter-state trade — free from all restrictions.” That was Congress’ promise to farmers in its 2019 manifesto. It also promised to junk The Essential Commodities Act, 1955 and free the prices of farm produce from government control, except during emergencies. But what did the Congress do when Narendra Modi enacted laws to do that? It vehemently opposed them. It called them as ‘Black laws’. It did all this knowing the new farm laws would benefit our farmers. That is the nature of the Congress. It promises change but never actually implements nor lets others implement the change.
The Congress also makes scintillating promises, knowing it will never implement them. Take, for example, the promise it made to Telangana farmers to waive agricultural loans of up to two lakh rupees on Sonia Gandhi’s birthday, December 9th. Sonia Gandhi’s birthday has come and gone, and Telangana Congress leaders celebrated her birthday. Yet, there was no word about the promised loan waiver, which was supposed to be a gift from Sonia Gandhi to Telangana farmers. Voter beware!
(The author is BJP TS spokesperson)
Really? Is the Congress ready to finally put ‘Naari Nyay’ (justice to women) above its appeasement politics? Is it honestly prepared to grant parity to Muslim women with Muslim men in matters of marriage and divorce? Will it ban polygamy, irrespective of religion? Will it give equal rights to men and women seeking divorce, regardless of their faith? Will it ban practices like triple talaq and make divorce a matter for the courts to decide? Does it plan to repeal the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act 1986, brought by Rajiv Gandhi, to deny destitute Muslim women the right to maintenance from husbands who divorce them? Is the Congress ready to finally put science above religion and give Muslim girls the same protection against child marriage, which the law extends to girls of other faiths? Will it discard the idea that a girl, just because she practices Islam, becomes physically, mentally, emotionally and psychologically ready for marriage the moment she attains puberty?
Suppose the Congress wants the Indian voter to take its pledge to give equal rights to men and women seriously. In that case, it should start by pledging to treat all women and all men equally, regardless of religion. It should begin with issuing a formal apology to Muslim women. For over seven decades, the Congress’ communal stance of ‘religion first’ had deprived Muslim women of the right to enjoy the same legal protections that women of other faiths enjoyed against patriarchal practices. Not only did it abstain from introducing progressive laws to protect Muslim women, it actively passed laws to deny access to rights granted to Muslim women by the Supreme Court of India. When the Supreme Court of India extended the right to maintenance for women divorcees of Islamic faith, the then Rajiv Gandhi government, which enjoyed a brute majority in the Lok Sabha, made a law to reverse the court’s judgement. To rub salt into their wounds, Rajiv even claimed he was bringing the law, which took away the right to maintenance, to protect the rights of Muslim women.
Next, the Congress should immediately declare support for introducing a Bill to enact a Uniform Civil Code (UCC). The Constitution enshrined UCC in Article 44 as a directive principle of state policy so that the Indian State can extend the same protections to all women against patriarchal practices, irrespective of their religion.
The Congress’s track record as a ruling party for more than five decades and as an opposition party for more than two decades provides ample evidence of its true nature. As they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. If the Congress had sincerely cared about women, no woman would have had to face the indignity of not having access to a toilet or a pucca roof over her head more than six decades after India’s independence. Tens of crores of Indian women should not have had to wait for an absolute majority-backed Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government to come to power to gain access to essentials like electricity, water, cooking gas or a bank account. If the Congress had shown any regard for women, the sex ratio at birth would not have declined to an abysmal 918 girls for every 1,000 boys by 2014.
The Congress habitually says one thing in its manifesto and does the opposite after elections. “Congress will repeal the Agricultural Produce Market Committees Act and make trade in agricultural produce — including exports and inter-state trade — free from all restrictions.” That was Congress’ promise to farmers in its 2019 manifesto. It also promised to junk The Essential Commodities Act, 1955 and free the prices of farm produce from government control, except during emergencies. But what did the Congress do when Narendra Modi enacted laws to do that? It vehemently opposed them. It called them as ‘Black laws’. It did all this knowing the new farm laws would benefit our farmers. That is the nature of the Congress. It promises change but never actually implements nor lets others implement the change.
The Congress also makes scintillating promises, knowing it will never implement them. Take, for example, the promise it made to Telangana farmers to waive agricultural loans of up to two lakh rupees on Sonia Gandhi’s birthday, December 9th. Sonia Gandhi’s birthday has come and gone, and Telangana Congress leaders celebrated her birthday. Yet, there was no word about the promised loan waiver, which was supposed to be a gift from Sonia Gandhi to Telangana farmers. Voter beware!
(The author is BJP TS spokesperson)
