CHENNAI: A day after the Lok Sabha passed the Bill that seeks to criminalise 'instant triple talaq'- (by the Muslim Women, Protection of Rights of Marriage Bill, 2019)-, to safeguard Muslim women, DMK president M. K. Stalin hit out at the AIADMK for its volte face on the issue in Parliament on Thursday.
In a statement here on Friday, Mr Stalin pointed out that while on the previous occasions, AIADMK's former MP from Ramanathapuram Anwar Raja had stoutly opposed the triple talaq bill saying it was “part of the BJP's communal agenda”; even Chief Minister Edappadi K, Palaniswami had also opposed the legislation on provisions such as three year jail term for those who called 'instant triple talaq'. But the AIADMK in Parliament on Thursday suddenly backed the Bill.
Wondering how this change of heart has come about, Stalin asked whether the weakness of the AIADMK government in Tamil Nadu has now forced the EPS-OPS combine to support the BJP government's Bill on instant triple talaq.
Stalin took a dig at the AIADMK's Theni MP O.P. Ravindranath Kumar, son of Deputy Chief Minister O. Pannerselvam, supporting the Bill in the Lok Sabha on Thursday. He wondered whether the AIADMK had reversed its stand on the Bill, which it earlier said was against the interests of the minorities, and now changed its tune saying “it is not an issue of majority versus minority”. “It shows how the AIADMK is itching to get into BJP government's Cabinet at the Centre,” he said.
The DMK leader said it was not only with regard to the triple talaq bill, but also with respect to amendments brought to the Motor Vehicles Act and to the RTI Act, that the AIADMK, which had earlier criticised the moves, had now extended support to the BJP in Parliament.
The AIADMK's 'quest for power' at the Centre has made it compromise with its avowed positions on minorities welfare, state's welfare and Tamil Nadu's rights, Stalin alleged. The 'dual leadership' in the AIADMK was being reflected as 'two different voices' on various issues, one at the state-level, and just its opposite at the Central level, Stalin further charged.
To keep endorsing the policies of the Sangh Parivar and the RSS-BJP combine, does not require the name 'AIADMK' for a party founded by MGR, Stalin suggested and wondered whether any merger between the two parties was being contemplated. He expressed the hope that at least from now. Palaniswami and. Pannerselvam would stop playing this 'double game' of playing one tune in the state and another tune in Parliament.
