A Million Muslims Across India Sign Petition Against Triple Talaq

The latest development in the Triple Talaq debate is that over a million people have claimed that the practice should be abolished by signing a petition. The majority of these million people who signed the petition are women as they are the ones most affected by this.

The petition was launched by Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MRM), an Islamic organization affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). RSS is part of the current ruling part – Bharatiya Janata Party.

"For a long time when we were not in the government, the BJP had, and still has, the ideology that gender equality is a must, irrespective of religion or caste," BJP official Sidharth Amarnath Singh told CNN. BJP’s thumping victory in UP in the recently held Assembly elections has contributed to the positive response to the petition as well.

The BJP won a whopping 312 seats out of the total 403 seats. This is the highest majority a party has won since 1980 in UP. UP, also the largest state in the country, has a population of 200 million out of which Muslims constitute 18.5%.

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Many Muslim women’s groups have also been opposing the Triple Talaq ritual but the strong alignment of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board with the rules of Sharia and hence Triple Talaq has not led to its end. The AIMPLB has actually gone on to say that it is better to divorce a woman than to kill her.

"The rights bestowed by religion can't be questioned in a court of law," said the Muslim group.

The central government has also announced its stand on Triple Talaq in the Supreme Court, claiming that it is against any ritual that is against gender equality and justice in the Indian Constitution.

Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi stood against Triple Talaq and said, “lives of Muslim women cannot be allowed to be destroyed by triple talaq”. He also pointed towards the opposition who, in his views, is unnecessarily politicising the whole issue to fill their votebank.