Congress, BJP issue whips to MPs as triple talaq bill faces crucial Rajya Sabha test on Monday

www.mangaloretoday.com

New Delhi, Dec 30, 2018: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress have issued whips to their MPs to be present in Parliament on December 31 as the politically sensitive triple talaq bill seeking to criminalise the practice of instant divorce among Muslims is set to be tabled in the Rajya Sabha.

Having a minority in the Upper House, the BJP is likely to face difficulties in getting the bill passed. The Congress has already made it clear that it will not allow the passage of the proposed bill in its current form.

Even as the numbers in the Upper house favour the Opposition, the Congress has issued a three-line whip to its MPs in both the Houses, asking them to be present in Parliament on Monday, ANI reported. The Opposition has demanded that the bill be sent to a joint select panel for review before it is passed by Parliament.

Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who is piloting the bill, had said there should be no politics on the issue and had stressed that it was not against any particular community.

A whip had been issued by the BJP on Wednesday as well, directing its MPs to be present in Lok Sabha on Thursday, when the bill was tabled in the Lower House. The bill was passed in the Lok Sabha with 245 voting in favour and 11 opposing it amid a walkout by the opposition parties.

The Congress, AIADMK, and Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party have vehemently opposed the bill in the Lower House. In addition, Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal (BJD) are of the opinion that the bill brings a criminal angle to a legislation on civil matters.