Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday chaired a key BJP Parliamentary Meet wherein discussions were held on the bill criminalising instant Triple Talaq.
“In today’s parliamentary party meeting, we discussed two important bills. the Constitution 123rd Amendment Bill which will give constitutional status to OBC Commission and the bill which will end Triple Talaq and protect the rights of Muslim women,” Union Minister Ananth Kumar said after the meet concluded.
Modi arrived for the meeting in Parliament House at around 9.45 am and as per reports the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government sat together to chalk out a plan to counter the opposition in the upper house where discussion on the bill will begin post lunch.
BJP chief Amit Shah along with other senior leaders were present in the crucial meeting.
The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, which makes instant triple illegal with up to three years in jail for the husband was listed for introduction in the Rajya Sabha by Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Tuesday.
However, the tabling of the bill was delayed to Wednesday as the Centre tried hard to build a consensus to ensure its smooth passage in the upper house where it does not enjoy brute majority.
The opposition parties including the Congress, Left, AIADMK and the DMK are in favour of sending the Muslim Women Protection of Rights in Marriage Bill 2017 to the Standing Committee but the government rejected the demand.
The amendments to the bill moved by the opposition too were rejected.
But the biggest bone of contention between the BJP and the opposition is the on the three-year jail term clause for the erring husband. The opposition has said that the clause can be misused by women to harass their husbands.
The bill could get stalled in the Rajya Sabha where government lacks a majority and it may be referred to a parliamentary committee for its review.