New Delhi: The BJP is preparing to reach out to Muslim women across the country in coming weeks and months and showcase the Narendra Modi government’s achievements for them in terms of the legislation banning and criminalising triple talaq.
Home Minister and BJP president Amit Shah will also deliver an hour long speech on “abolition of Triple Talaq: correcting a historic wrong” Sunday in the national capital. This will be his first public speech after it was accorded approval by President Ram Nath Kovind.
The Modi government has also started work on an awareness campaign about the issue. To ensure that Muslim women know their rights under the new law — The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019 — which makes instant divorce void, the government is all set to make it a part of Nai Roshni, a leadership and awareness scheme of the minority ministry.
The scheme will also be applicable to Jammu and Kashmir, which was not the case when it was passed.
Awareness campaign
According to Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Nai Roshni is a scheme for minority women which provides knowledge, tools and techniques for interacting with government system, banks and other institutions at all levels.
Now, it will also provide information regarding the new law.
“It (ban on triple talaq) has now become a law and minority women across the country, including in Jammu & Kashmir, will be informed about their rights and what safeguards are there in it. In case something like this still happens with them, what should they do? They will be informed about all this through the awareness programme.
“Under Nai Roshni a lot of information that can be beneficial to these women is provided and now we will make this law also part of it,” Naqvi told ThePrint.
The scheme, covering all minorities, is implemented with the involvement of the gram panchayat at the village level and local urban bodies at the district level. It also empowers the minority women to stand up for their rights.
Also read: Man arrested in Delhi for divorcing his wife through triple talaq
‘Doubts being removed’
Apart from the government programme, the minority unit of the BJP will also be holding statewide seminars, conferences and corner meetings on the issue to ensure there is no ambiguity and women are aware of what the decision means for them.
Confirming the move, BJP Minority Morcha president Abdul Rasheed Ansari said after the Parliament passed the triple talaq Bill, celebrations were held at state unit level. However, awareness is the main focus area now.
“The government has taken a historic decision and all state units have started holding seminars, conferences, corner meetings. In case there are any doubts within the community, they are being removed using this opportunity,” said Ansari.
The state units of the Morcha have been asked to invite experts on the matter so that the issue can be explained in a simple manner to the community.
According to sources, most activities are likely to take place in Uttar Pradesh, which has a significant Muslim population.
What the law says
The triple talaq Bill was passed by the Parliament last month, making the practice of instant divorce among Muslims a punishable offence.
A gazette notification, published on 31 July, said President Ram Nath Kovind gave his assent to the Bill passed by the Parliament. The Act replaced an ordinance promulgated on 21 February this year to the same effect.
The new law makes “any pronouncement of talaq by a Muslim husband upon his wife, by words, either spoken or written or in electronic form or in any other manner” illegal.
The law also provides for a jail term of up to three years and a fine for the practice of instant divorce by Muslim men. The opposition had criticised the Bill pointing out that the law could be misused to harass Muslim men.
Also read: Opposition ‘deceit’ enabled Modi government to pass triple talaq bill, says Owaisi