Govt committed to law against triple talaq: PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday said despite all “obstacles” from fundamentalists and opposition parties, his government was committed to bringing a law against the practice of triple talaq to ensure social justice for Muslim women.“Despite all the obstacles, despite resistance from the fundamentalists and the opposition, the government is committed to making a law against triple talaq so that our Muslim women get rid of a big insecurity in their social life,” Modi told the national convention of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s women’s wing Mahila Morcha.The government had brought the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill last year and got it passed in the Lok Sabha, but it was stonewalled in the Rajya Sabha where the ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) lacks majority. The opposition had expressed serious concerns over making triple talaq a criminal offence.Under the proposed law, a man could be jailed for up to three years for pronouncing an instant divorce (triple talaq) to his wife.Subsequently, the government brought an ordinance on the subject in September this year which has to be replaced by law in the current session. Otherwise, it will lapse.Modi said the government had already done away with the condition of a ‘mehram’ (a male guardian including husband or first blood relations) to accompany a woman on Haj.Earlier, Muslim women from India could not go on Haj alone. The government did away with the condition last year and around 1,300 women performed the pilgrimage without a mehram.Modi listed a number of schemes that his government has brought for the welfare of women - such as Ujjawala and Surakshit Matritva among others.“Women are at the centre of several flagship programmes of this government...for the first time there are two women in the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS),” he said.Modi asked the BJP workers present at the conclave to download the Narendra Modi mobile app so that they can forward the government’s various welfare schemes to all their contacts.“When I tell the world leaders that India has allowed 36 months of maternity leave to women, they look away from me. Not even the developed countries have given such a facility to women,” the prime minister said.He said his government was trying to promote women entrepreneurs through various schemes including the Mudra Yojana under which the major percentage of loans had been disbursed to women entrepreneurs.Earlier, addressing the valedictory ceremony at the Conference of Directors General and Inspectors Generals of Police at Kevadia, Modi urged police forces to be vigilant in countering the “dark forces of radicalisation” and cautioned them against divisive elements exploiting caste fault lines.He praised the officers for looking at all issues in the national perspective and said it was the “biggest achievement of the changed nature” of the annual conference over the last few years.He urged the police forces to continue working for the unity and integrity of India. “Let us strengthen forces that promote unity, and isolate divisive forces at the grassroots level.”