Fundamentalist vote bank is a higher priority than justice: Arun Jaitley slams Opposition

New Delhi | Former finance minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday said opposition to the triple talaq bill “exposed pseudo liberals” as he hit out at the Congress for giving higher priority to “fundamentalist” vote bank than justice to women.

In a blog, Jaitley said a ‘liberal’ should be hostile to the idea of discrimination and injustice perpetuated by an oral divorce. But in this case, not one spoke in favour of the bill which is ending the injustice, he added.

“The bill has exposed all those who consider themselves as liberals. They raised weak arguments so that the fundamentalists amongst the Muslims are kept happy,” he said.

Training his guns at Congress, he said the party has ruled this country for a long time and during this period it has amended several personal laws to make them acceptable to the changing social mindset.

“But when it comes to the Shariat, it is scared,” he said.

The Congress’ stand in both the Shah Bano case and now in the legislation emanating from the Shayara Bano case has given a clear evidence of its intent, he said.

“It does not mind Muslim women being driven to destitution. After all, the fundamentalist vote bank is a higher priority than justice being conferred to the female gender,” Jaitley said.

Justifying the provision of punishment in the law, he said such measures will have a strong deterrent effect for those who want to use the weapon of triple talaq. They will think a hundred times before using it due to the onerous consequences of their illegality, Jaitley said.

Talking about the rights of an individual and customs of the society, Jaitley, who himself is a lawyer, said it is long overdue that the courts re-examine whether the rights of a citizen being deprived on the grounds of personal law violate the constitutional guarantees.