BJP calls it victory for Muslim women

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 22

Top BJP leaders and the government, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and BJP chief Amit Shah, today hailed the "historic" triple talaq verdict as a victory of Muslim women--their right to equality and basic constitutional rights.

The next step is now expected to be a legislation (perhaps a new Muslim divorce law) to give "a concrete definition and form to the Supreme Court verdict", say party leaders. Till then, the apex court verdict should be considered the law and BJP leaders should "exercise restraint" and "not allow it to become a religious or a us-versus-them issue", is the directive from the top leadership that wants "dignity and constitutional rights of Muslim women" to remain central to the theme, but without the religious undertones.

This apart, the BJP is expected to showcase the verdict as a vindication of its stance against a practice that violated the basic principles of gender justice and equality— an add-on to existing poll planks of development, good governance and "Hindutva". However, even as the BJP's stance is being linked to its attempts to impact 50 per cent of the Muslim community, saffron leaders do not foresee "any magical changes in the saffron party's existing fortunes" in the community.

“The verdict gives us a moral high ground, but to think that it has helped us make immediate inroads into the Muslim community is wrong,” they said on the impact of the triple talaq issue. "The PM has also supported the issue on multiple occasions. However, it will take another 10 years for a change in attitude of the community. But it will certainly help increase the participation of minorities in government policies," say BJP leaders, who also denied that the triple talaq verdict was a precursor for the Uniform Civil Code.