Congress Promises to Revoke Triple‑Talaq Law if They Win
New Delhi — The main opposition in India made a bold declaration on Feb. 7: if Congress comes to power by May, the party will roll back Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent decree that could land Muslim men in jail for saying “talaq” three times.
What’s the “triple‑talaq” fuss about?
- Traditionally, a Muslim husband can divorce his wife by repeating the Arabic word “talaq” (meaning “divorce”) three times.
- In January, the BJP issued an executive order making this practice a non‑bailable offence, punishable by up to three years behind bars.
- The move came after a bill that tried to criminalize the same practice stumped the upper house of Parliament, even though it got nods from the lower house.
Congress’s hot take
The party’s women’s wing chief, Sushmita Dev, slammed the law as “another weapon to target Muslim men,” saying that it unfairly drags them to police stations. “We’ll make sure that if Congress takes office in 2019, we dismantle this triple‑talaq rule,” she promised.
Rahul Gandhi, Congress chairman, echoed her sentiment at a minority‑members meeting, roaring into the applause: “No matter where you’re from—language, religion, caste—Congress will always stand by you.”
BJP’s stance and national reaction
- Pro‑BJP factions see the law as a way to woo Muslim women, especially because other Muslim‑majority nations have banned “triple talaq.”
- Speaking to reporters, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra warned that both Muslim women and the wider public would not accept such “regressive” thinking.
Legal backdrop
India’s Supreme Court outlawed the practice in August last year, asking the government to put the ruling into law. With urgent cases popping up—like men divorcing via WhatsApp or blaming their wives for their cooking—Modi’s ordinance was a quick fix aimed at enforcing the Court’s decision.
India, home to 1.3 billion people, remains 80% Hindu and 14.2% Muslim—an arithmetic that makes politics ever more dramatic and, sometimes, a little bit funny.
