[Reproduced below are a few representative samples of BJP's attitude towards Muslim women, in particular, and women, in general. Also included are its ideological predecessors. In the context of the triple talaq Bill.
Prior to that, our recommendations: Refer the Bill, even now, to the relevant Parliamentary Standing Committee. (The Bill has been piloted by the Law and Justice Minister. If gender justice would have been the goal, it should have had been the charge of the Women & Child Development Minister, who, incidentally, was not even a member of the ministerial committee meant to draw up the Bill.) Have wider consultations. Engage especially with the Muslim women's groups fighting for abolition of instant triple talaq. Reconcile the suggestions received, as far as possible, and take these on board before enacting. I. (Modi on Muslim women as Gujarat Chief Minister.) 'No relief camps for producing kids, remarks Modi', dtd. Sept. 9 2002, at < https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/No-relief-camps-for-producing-kids-remarks-Modi/articleshow/21695855.cms >. <<Chief Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing public meetings along the route of the Gaurav Yatra, took digs at the minority community for aggravating the population boom and said, "We do not want to keep running relief camps for producing children." He also took a pot-shot at the Congress which, he said, objected to the BJP government bringing in Narmada waters in the month of 'Shravan'. "Let them bring it in Ramzan," he remarked sarcastically. Stating that he did not want to keep running relief camps "for producing children", he said, "We want to move ahead in the direction of family planning". Again with the minority community in mind, he remarked, "Their kind of family planning slogan is: "We five and our twenty five.">> Also look up: <<We want to firmly implement family planning. Hum paanch, humare pachees (We five, our 25) (laughs). Who will benefit from this development? Is family planning not necessary in Gujarat? Where does religion come in its way? Where does community come in its way?>> (Source: 'Should We Run Relief Camps? Open Child Producing Centres?' at < https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/should-we-run-relief-camps-open-child-producing-centres/217398 >.) II. (Modi on Shashi Tharoor's wife.) <<A day after the Cabinet reshuffle, UPA ministers — especially Shashi Tharoor — came under fire from Gujarat CM Narendra Modi as he made a scathing attack on the former UN diplomat, calling his wife the "50-crore-rupee girlfriend". Addressing a rally here on Monday, ahead of polls in the state, Modi said, "Wah kya girlfriend hai. Apne kabhi dekha hai 50 crore ka girlfriend?" (What a girlfriend. Have you ever seen a 50-crore-girl friend), he told the crowd referring to Tharoor who was inducted into the government as minister of state for HRD.>> (Source: 'Narendra Modi calls Shashi Tharoor's wife '50-crore-rupee girlfriend'' at < https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Narendra-Modi-calls-Shashi-Tharoors-wife-50-crore-rupee-girlfriend/articleshow/17008278.cms >.) III. Yogi Adityanath's Men Telling Hindus To Rape Dead Muslim Women Is Beyond Shocking < https://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/yogi-adityanaths-men-telling-hindus-to-rape-dead-muslim-women-is-beyond-shocking-230679.html > IV. <<The Hindu Code Bill was intended to provide a civil code in place of the body of Hindu personal law, which had been amended to only a limited extent by the British authorities. The bill was presented to the Constituent Assembly on 9 April 1948 but it caused a great deal of controversy and was subsequently broke down to three more specialised bills which came before the Lok Sabha in its 1952-7 term. The Hindu Marriage Bill outlawed polygamy and contained provisions dealing with inter caste marriages and divorce procedures; the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Bill had as its main thrust the adoption of girls, which till then had been little practised; the Hindu Succession Bill placed daughters on the same footing as widows and sons where the inheritance of family property was concerned. These bills aroused strong opposition from the Hindu nationalists. In Parliament N.C. Chatterjee, the Hindu Mahasabha leader, and S.P. Mokerjee protested vehemently against what they took to be a threat to file stability and integrity of traditional forms of marriage and the family in Hindu society. However, one of the most vehement critics of the government's proposals was Swami Karpatriji, a sanyasi who belonged to the Dandis, one of the orders founded by Shankara. He had won respect for his knowledge of Sanskrit texts, his asceticism (he had spent long periods in solitude in the Himalayas) and for his skill as an orator. It was a measure of his authority that he had been involved in the selection of the four major Shankarachryas . In 1940 he had founded the Dharma Sangh (Association of Dharma), a cultural association for the defence of traditional Hinduism. In 1941 he founded a daily paper Sanmarg. After 1948 he turned towards politics and established the Ram Rajya Parishad (Council of the Kingdom of Ram) to serve as a political party. This body organised numerous demonstrations against the Hindu Code Bill; 15,000 people, including personalities such as the Princess of Dewas Senior (a former princely state in Central India), attended a week- long conference in Delhi at the beginning of 1949.>> (Source: 'Nehru And The Hindu Code Bill' at < https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/nehru-and-the-hindu-code-bill/221000 >.) V. <<The women's organisations of Rajasthan today announced that they would shortly move a public interest writ petition in the Rajasthan High Court challenging a judgment of the special court on Sati prevention which had recently acquitted all the 11 accused in four cases of glorification of the infamous Roop Kanwar's Sati incident in 1987. The accused who were let off includes Pratap Singh Khachariawas -- nephew of the Vice-President, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, and former president of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha -- who has now joined Congress and has been fielded as the party's candidate from Jaipur for the Lok Sabha elections. ... The women's groups regretted that the ruling party was showing its bias against women despite the Chief Minister, Vasundhara Raje, being a woman. "Ms. Raje is following the footsteps of her mother, Vijaya Raje Scindia, who had led several rallies supporting Sati. She herself described Jhunjhunu town as the land of Sati in a rally held there recently,'' Kavita Srivastava, State general secretary of People's Union for Civil Liberties, pointed out.>> (Source: 'Women's groups to move court over Sati verdict' at < http://www.thehindu.com/2004/04/06/stories/2004040605880500.htm>.) VI. <<Yogi (Adityanath) warns that women who acquire male traits turn into demons or ‘rakshasas’ (and hence need protection, for their own good and for the good of the society).>> (Source: 'They Need Protection, Not Independence: How CM Yogi Views Women' at < https://www.thequint.com/news/politics/yogi-adityanath-views-on-women-uttar-pradesh-chief-minister >.) VII. <<Like an ideal RSS worker, (Manohar Lal) Khattar is conservative on issues like women's rights, pre-marital sex and Khap panchayats. During his election campaign, Khattar had blamed women for India's rising number of rapes. “If a girl is dressed decently, a boy will not look at her in the wrong way," Khattar had said. When asked whether young people should have freedom of choice, he replied, “If you want freedom, why don't they just roam around naked? Freedom has to be limited. These short clothes are western influences. Our country's tradition asks girls to dress decently.” He said pre-marital sex occurred when the minds of girls and boys "are not on the right track" . During his campaign, Khattar also expressed support for Khap panchayats ‒ unofficial village bodies that dispense justice in some parts of North India. The politician had said that Khap rulings are justified as they are only trying to maintain Indian traditions and culture in the state.>> (Source: 'Manohar Lal Khattar, who blamed women for India's rising rapes, is new Haryana CM' at < https://scroll.in/article/684700/manohar-lal-khattar-who-blamed-women-for-indias-rising-rapes-is-new-haryana-cm >.) VIII. (Modi deserted his own married wife and doesn't give her divorce. Keeps her under surveillance.) Look up: A. < http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/no-passport-for-narendra-modis-wife-as-she-has-no-marriage-certificate/article7855384.ece >. B. < http://www.thehindu.com/elections/loksabha2014/modi-declares-himself-as-married/article5893332.ece >. C. 'I AM THE PM’S WIFE, AND I FEAR FOR MY LIFE' at < http://punemirror.indiatimes.com/news/india//articleshow/45264158.cms>. D. 'Jashodaben Modi: why is the Indian prime minister's wife trying to shake off her security detail?' at < https://www.theguardian.com/politics/shortcuts/2014/nov/26/why-is-indias-first-lady-trying-to-shake-off-her-security-detail- >.] http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/triple-talaq-bill-in-rajya-sabha-day-after-it-was-passed-in-lok-sabha/1/1119929.html Triple talaq Bill to be tabled in Rajya Sabha next week, it was passed in Lok Sabha yesterday Once taken up, discussed, and debated in the Rajya Sabha, the contentious Bill will be forwarded to the President of India for signing it into a law. IndiaToday.in | Posted by Christopher Gonsalves New Delhi, December 29, 2017 | UPDATED 13:29 IST Triple talaq After the Lok Sabha passed The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017, also known as the triple talaq Bill, the legislation is set to be introduced in the Rajya Sabha, where the Narendra Modi government does not have a majority, but only next week. On Thursday, following a day-long and heated debate in the Lok Sabha, the Bill that criminalises instant divorce with three years of imprisonment for Muslim husbands was passed by a voice vote. The government called it a "historic day" and rejected the Opposition's demand to refer the legislation to a Parliamentary standing committee for detailed consideration. Once taken up, discussed, and debated in the Rajya Sabha, the contentious Bill will be forwarded to the President of India for signing it into a law. ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW: 1. Law and Justice Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who introduced the Bill on Thursday and later piloted it in the Lok Sabha, said history was being created. "We are going to create history. Today is the day to create history," Prasad said. 2. The government insisted the government did not intend to politicise the issue and the legislation was brought after taking a humanitarian view of it. "This is not about siyasat (politics) but about insaniyat (humanity)," Prasad said. 3. Opposition parties accused the government of bringing the bill with "ulterior political motives".Some felt that the BJP government was in a haste to pass the Bill not because of its concern for Muslim women but because it sees this as a first step towards bringing in a Uniform Civil Code. 4. The Congress said it supported the Bill, but wanted it to be scrutinised by the Standing Committee of Parliament, a demand that was rejected by the Lok Sabha chair. The Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Samajwadi Party also backed the demand of referring the bill to the Standing Committee. 5. Various amendments moved by the Opposition members, including Asaduddin Owaisi (AIMIM) and Revolutionary Socialist Party member NK Premachandran, were negatived in divisions. The Biju Janata Dal and the AIMIM later staged a walkout. 6. Owaisi took several digs at the Modi government and also said those who "marry and abandon" their wives should be punished and the government should bring a law to this effect. Owaisi said the government should also worry about nearly 20 lakh women of various religions who are abandoned by their husbands, "including our bhabhi from Gujarat." He termed the bill as "bad law". 7. Under the proposed law, instant triple talaq in any form --spoken, in writing or by electronic means such as email, SMS and WhatsApp -- would be illegal and void. The proposed law would be applicable to the entire country except in Jammu and Kashmir. 8. The triple talaq legislation would make instant talaq punishable by a jail term of up to three years and a fine, and would be a cognisable, non-bailable offence, a provision opposed by many Opposition parties and gender rights activists and lawyers. 9. Seeking to allay the Opposition's concerns, Ravi Shankar Prasad said it is wrong link instant triple talaq, the divorce practice which the Supreme Court struck down as illegal, with the Uniform Civil Code. "Some are trying to spread fear that the bill is being brought to put Muslims behind the bars," Prasad said. 10. Bharatiya Muslima Mahila Andolan, which was one of the petitioners in the Supreme Court on triple talaq issue, welcome the passage of the Bill in Lok Sabha. However, senior advocate Indira Jaising, who was a counsel for Bebaak Collective, expressed her shock. "I would say that some of our worst fears have come true. That the intention of the government was not to protect these women but to re-victimise them. This bill is patently discriminatory and unconstitutional and it should be challenged," the senior lawyer added. -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
