OpinionsMuslim women not fodder for politics

Muslim women not fodder for politics

Date:

Swapan Dasgupta

By suggesting that the Modi government is using the triple talaq issue to smuggle in a Uniform Civil Code, it has stoked Muslim fears of the separate identity of the community being obliterated. ‘Islam in danger' has an immediate, if irrational fear among a ghettoised minority and orthodox community leaders are known to invoke it frequently, not least to maintain their own relevance.

Last Friday witnessed many demonstrations, both small and large, organised by Muslim organisations to protest against what a (very misleading) report in the Hindustan Times (Kolkata edition) described as “Prime Minister Narendra Modi's initiative of ushering in a uniform civil code.” A demonstration attended by three Trinamool Congress MPs and various imams announced a three-day conference in Kolkata that will culminate in a massive demonstration on November 20.

The right to protest is sacrosanct and upheld by unshakable Constitutional guarantees. Alas there is no obligation to desist from misleading bouts of protest. Consequently, what we are beginning to witness all across the country is an attempt by some Muslim organisations sympathetic to the stand of the All Muslim Personal Law Board to conflate two different issues and create a huge political controversy.

There is, to begin with, a pending case in the Supreme Court filed by a 35-year-old Muslim lady Shayara Banu protesting against the peremptory and apparent manner in which her husband divorced her using the provisions of the triple talaq that is part of the Muslim Personal Law. The petition involves an individual case and there is no plea for either the codification of Muslim Personal Laws or the Uniform Civil Code that has decorated the Directive Principles of the Constitution.

Since the issue involves larger issues, the Court sought the opinion of (among others) the Union Government. After due deliberations, the government took the view that the practice of triple talaq was incompatible with contemporary notions of gender justice and the ethos of the Constitution, and should be repealed. The Government called upon the Supreme Court to review a 50-year-old judgment that deemed that Personal Law need not be compatible with other provisions of the Constitution.

Quite unrelated to this case, the Law Commission, an advisory body to the Government of India, re-opened the Uniform Civil Code controversy by asking the government to move towards it. Presumably, any proposed common civil code is unlikely to preserve the institution of triple talaq. But what is important is that the Law Commission's proposals go far beyond the immediate issue before the Supreme Court.

By seeking to merge the two issues, the Muslim orthodoxy is being wilfully disingenuous. Aware that the practice of triple talaq is becoming very difficult, if not impossible, to defend, it has wilfully chosen to deflect attention by presenting its repeal as the proverbial thin end of the wedge. By suggesting that the Modi government is using the triple talaq issue to smuggle in a Uniform Civil Code, it has stoked Muslim fears of the separate identity of the community being obliterated. ‘Islam in danger' has an immediate, if irrational fear among a ghettoised minority and orthodox community leaders are known to invoke it frequently, not least to maintain their own relevance.

The belief that the Modi government is actually out to legislate a uniform civil code is a little far-fetched. There has been absolutely no preparations or consultations for such a far-reaching move, however desirable. Yet, the fact that the BJP has been committed to a Uniform Civil Code since its inception, and even included it in its 2014 election manifesto, has made the Muslim alarmism seem real. After all, the BJP can hardly deny that it favours a common civil code for all citizens, irrespective of religion.

Yet, it is important to keep the Uniform Civil Code issue out of the present discussion on triple talaq. To begin with, it is a regressive and iniquitous practice that goes against the grain of gender justice. Secondly, it has been demonstrated quite conclusively through the example of other countries (both Muslim-dominated and otherwise) that the abolition of triple talaq does not jeopardise the religious identity of Muslims. The draconian provisions of Islamic criminal jurisprudence, for example, don't find reflection in Indian criminal law. That lacunae hasn't compromised the practice of Islam in the subcontinent. Nor, for that matter, has the obligation of Muslims in European countries to be the subject of adjudication by family courts (in matters of divorce and even alimony) make them less devout. Thirdly, regardless of the theological roots of the practice, it is necessary for the Supreme Court

to take a stand when there is a potential conflict between universal principles and traditional beliefs or custom.

For the moment, the ball is in the court of the judiciary. However, there is an attempt being made to put intense pressure on judiciary through street mobilisation. It may be recalled that it was such a mobilisation that led to the Rajiv Gandhi government overturning the Shah Bano judgment granting maintenance to divorced Muslim women. Some political parties have already indicated their willingness to fish in troubled waters and use Muslim women as political cannon fodder. This must be resisted, if necessary by an aggressive projection of alternative perspectives.

This is not a religious war; it is a battle of values. An enlightened Supreme Court verdict will open the doors for a review of other laws that heap criminality on lifestyle minorities.

Northlines
Northlines
The Northlines is an independent source on the Web for news, facts and figures relating to Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh and its neighbourhood.

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