Banning Triple Talaq: The Supporters' Claims

There were three types of claims that were discussed quite passionately over the years in order to pursue a case for the criminalisation of instant triple talaq practice. It is argued that Muslim women are the most deprived section of Indian society and the practice of instant triple talaq is the only reason behind their mar­ginalisation.

It would be completely wrong to place the concerns of BJP towards the plight of Muslim women in a binary opposition to the apathy of the government towards the socio-economic upliftment ofwomen in general and Muslim women in particular. However, the ways in which the TTB was used for naming and shaming the Muslim community for legitimising the party’s hostility towards rights of minorities and religious freedom should be brought under the scanner.

The preceding argument in support of the TTB gives us an impression that the banning of the practice of triple talaq has given an opportunity to Muslim women to join the mainstream of otherwise liberated Indian women. Such type of sweeping generalisations does not allow us to look at the nature of Muslim patriarchy and the actual extent and density of the triple talaq problem.

The census of 2011 had put the divorce rate among Muslims at 0.56% (0.76% among Hindus) in general. The nationwide data on instances of triple talaq is completely lacking, which leaves one to presume that it must be much lower than the general rate of divorce. The survey conducted by the Bhartiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) also did not identify triple talaq as the only or most prevalent form of divorce amongst Muslims. In fact, the background of 117 cases of triple talaq that the BMMA based its findings on to reject triple talaq establishes the fact there is a class factor involved in the marginalised condition of Muslim women.³¹ This condition of Muslim women is much the same as women belonging to the same social class in general. The class character must be given due consideration in the analysis of any social problem.

The scope of the second type of claims in favour of the criminalisation of the triple talaq is much wider. It insisted that banning triple talaq means achieving the national integration that would pave the way for a gender-just New India. For example, Home Minister Amit Shah, appreciating the Triple Talaq Act, said: ‘It marks the beginning of a new era of pride and equality for Muslim women... (it is) a step towards a determined New India.’³² To understand this observation in its entirety, the idea of New India and its relationship with the triple talaq issue should be elaborated.

‘New India’, broadly speaking, underlines Prime Minister Modi’s vision for building an India of a different kind. It is a well-defined premise that the BJP has accepted as its political resolution in 2018. The party has committed itself to achieve New India by 2022 when the county would celebrate 75 years of inde- pendence.³³ According to the party’s resolution, this New India will be united and free from poverty, homelessness, terrorism, corruption, casteism and sectari­anism. According to the official website of Narendra Modiit, is imperative for Indian citizens to take an eight-point pledge for building New India. This pledge also includes an expressed commitment to ‘support and encourage Women led development.’³⁴

The manifestation of this pledge in the form of the triple talaq law represents an interesting picture. The banning of triple talaq is referred as a stepping stone in building Modi’s New India. The triple talaq law (TT) quite deliberately demo­nises Muslim men and Islamic philosophy for the plight of Muslim women. This overt demonisation of Muslims gives us an impression that the stated features of New India — women-led development, citizenship and national identity — are by definition governed by the logic of the Indian/Hindu (read Hindutva) main­stream.

The second important aspect of New India is directly related to the notion of UCC. Implementation of UCC, we must note, has been an important aspect of the BJP political agenda for a long time. The ideal of UCC goes well with the stated philosophy of the party: ‘one nation, one legislation’. It has been persuaded by the BJP as a key to forming a ‘truly democratic’ and ‘non-sectarian Indian society’. In this wider context, the triple talaq Law has been constantly referred to as a step forward to the abolition of MPL and quite flawlessly as a way forward towards the formation of UCC. The Citizens’ Pledge for New India becomes relevant here. It asks citizens to stand for an India of ‘Shanti, Ekta and Sadbhavana’ (peace, unity and harmony).³⁵ Since the notion of UCC is not fully developed and there is virtually nothing that can be called the UCC, these ideals such as shanti, ekta and sambhavna appear to signify the dominant Hindutva imagination of unity and harmony. Triple talaq law, in this framework, is given a new mean­ing — a law that would pave the way for a truly Hindutva driven national unity.

The third claim made by the supporters of the TTA is directly linked to what could be called the de-politicisation and de-communalisation of gender justice. It is asserted that the triple talaq is the only hurdle in achieving the objective of gender dignity in India, which is beyond party ideology or vote bank politics. Ravi Shanker Prasad, the law minister, stridently argued that this law is inex­tricably linked to the ‘beti bachao beti padhao’ initiative of the government and it should not be seen in isolation. He insisted that the bill ‘has nothing to do with religion, and purely a question about women’s dignity, empowerment and jus­tice.’³⁶ In an interview to the Economic Times, Prasad stated, ‘the... legislation should be not seen through a political prism or vote bank politics, as it aims at ensuring gender dignity, justice and equality.’³⁷ However, the party continuously drew comparisons on the same ground, blaming the opposition parties, espe­cially Congress, for playing the politics of ‘appeasement’ and having a ‘pseudo­secular’ ideology.

Contrary to its claim for de-politicisation of gender justice, BJP turned the proposed law into an election promise. It is important to note that the timing of the debate on the bill was just before the 2019 elections, which took place in seven phases from 11 April to 19 May 2019. The section on women empowerment in BJP’s Sankalp Patra of 2019 refers to the triple talaq bill as an achievement stating that the government ‘determinedly taken substantive measures to ensure overall development of women and promote gender equality.’³⁹ The manifesto promised ‘to legislate a bill to prohibit and eliminate practices such as Triple Talaq and Nikah Halala’ after coming to power.⁴⁰ The TTB was also invoked as a campaign issue. In fact, Muslim leaders of the BJP argued that Muslim women were going to vote for the BJP precisely because PM Modi had given them justice.

While the party leaders persuaded the case with a language of justice and equality, the BJP IT cell and news channels packaged the issue of triple talaq favourably to suit the government’s agenda, especially during the election cam- paigns.⁴¹ The media representation of the TTB has three features.

Secondly, these TV channels presented Modi alone as the decisive leader and a true Muslim reformer. This larger than life image of Modi was weaved around the controversial Shah Bano case and the role of the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who overturned the Supreme Court’s decision under political pressure from Muslim groups. These channels represented Modi as the crusader who would go to any extent for delivering justice to Muslim women with headlines like ‘Modi Ends Triple Talaq’ claiming ‘triple talaq par triple Modi’ as their weapon against the atrocities committed on them by topi clad Muslim men in the name of Islam.⁴⁴

Thirdly, these TV channels presented the debates on TTB as BJP’s rashtrawadi rajniti versus Congress’s vote bank ki rajniti (nationalist politics versus politics of vote bank). Quite perceptibly, nationalism or respect for the BJP’s version of nation was projected as a prerequisite for taking a stand on the issue of triple talaq.⁴⁵ A number of news headlines run as ‘teen talaq se mukt hoga Modi ka New India’, ‘Triple talaq to UCC’, ‘abolition of triple talaq, strongest push for one law for one India’, ‘Triple Talaq Jhnaki Hai Picture Abhi Baaqi Hai’ etc., promoting Modi’s vision of India as an ideal to be achieved.⁴⁶ Interestingly, these programs established UCC as the cornerstone of this New India, asking people to take responsibility as true citizens to contribute by rejecting anti-government propaganda.

This sharp political divide between the BJP and the others created a condition where one cannot express his/her views on the desirability of the criminalisa- tion of triple talaq without stating his/her ideological credentials. The dominant pro—BJP media established the image of the ‘supporters’ of the triple talaq law as the guardians/liberators of Muslim women. This guardianship attitude of the party was not restricted only to the TT issue. The party leader also invoked the image ofModi as a reformer to justify the abrogation ofArticle 370. On 5 August 2019, immediately after passing TTA in the Parliament in July 2019, the central government abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution, which gave special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.⁴⁷ Interestingly, the mainstream news channels and the BJP IT cell ran a campaign in support of the government’s move. It was argued that the abrogation of 370 was beneficial and liberating for the Muslim women of Kashmir who now could marry outside the region with­out having to lose their right to property. The vocabulary, images and symbols that were used to promote this agenda were equally derogatory and patriarchal.

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