Yechury calls Modi's stance on triple talaq 'communal'

Yechury said if the prime minister was really concerned about the plight of women, he would have initiated the steps to pass the Women's Reservation Bill.

Kochi, May 7: Terming Prime Minister Narendra Modi's stand on 'triple talaq' as "communal campaign" CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury on Sunday questioned his alleged silence on impediments to widows' remarriage in other religions.

CPI-M is opposed to all forms of oppressions to and discrimination against women, including that through 'triple talaq' and thousands of widows not being allowed to marry again in name of religious practices, he said.

"Modi's campaign against triple talaq is a communal campaign," alleged CPI-M general secretary while accusing the prime minister of not taking steps on various other issues concerning woman, including the Women Reservation Bill.

Yechury questioned Modi's stance on 'triple talaq' while addressing a national seminar on the occasion of 150th year of publication of Karl Marx's book "Das Kapital" here.

He urged Prime Minister Modi to hold discussions with the representatives of all religions for reforming all practices concerning women of all faiths. Referring to the prime minister's statement that the Muslim sisters should also get justice, Yechury said he was also of the opinion that the "triple talaq should go" along with other practices prevailing in other religions.

"Why widows' remarriage are not allowed? They are not allowed to remarry," the CPI(M) leader claimed adding such a situation prevailed in the prime minister's Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh too.

"If the prime minister is really sympathetic to women, why is he not talking about his own constituency? What about the husbands leaving women without saying triple talaq?" asked Yechury.

The seminar had been jointly organised by EMS Study and Research Centre and Economics department of the Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT).

Yechury, a Rajya Sabha member, said if the prime minister was really concerned about the plight of women, he would have initiated the steps to pass the Women's Reservation Bill in Parliament particularly when the BJP is having a clear majority in the Lower House of Parliament.

He said though Rajya Sabha had passed it in 2010, the Lok Sabha never voted on the legislation which seeks to reserve 33 per cent of seats in Parliament and legislatures to women.

Modi had last month urged the Muslim community to ensure that the 'triple talaq' issue was not "politicised," and hoped that intellectuals from the community would come forward to fight the practice. The opposition parties, however, had charged Modi with politicising the triple talaq issue to gain electoral mileage.

PTI