The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) on Thursday said it would resist any move to repudiate the Muslim Personal Law.
Briefing journalists here on Thursday on the deliberations of the party’s political affairs committee, KPCC president V.M. Sudheeran said the Sangh Parivar was using its virulent opposition to the ancient law of “triple talaq”, the customary practice of divorce in traditional Islam, as a “front” to infringe on the belief and tradition of Indian Muslims.
The Muslim Personal Law was based on the “inalterable” Shariat. Any move to amend it should come from within the minority community. It could not be enforced from outside and under the guise of the proposed Uniform Civil Code.
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) election ploy in Uttar Pradesh was to raise the issue of enforcing the uniform code as a devious stratagem to polarise votes on communal lines. It wanted to make religion the biggest faultline in Indian politics. The political gambit was fraught with dangers for the country’s secular polity.
The CPI(M)’s stance on the issue was duplicitous. It opposed the proposed law on one hand. On the other, it wanted to the end the Shariat-based “triple talaq” form of divorce.
Kannur violence
The government’s laxity in ushering in peace in Kannur was ominous. It foreshadowed more violence. The Chief Minister should intervene lest the situation spiral out of control. The families of those killed in political violence should be compensated. The irregularities in the list of ration beneficiaries should be rectified.
The government had failed to resolve the stand-off in courts between lawyers and journalists. The issue had brought infamy to the State, he said.
KPCC rejig
The reconstitution of the KPCC at the district level was on track. He condemned the “illegal detention of Congress vice president Rahul Gnadhi in New Delhi on Wednesday. The Congress would hold protests in all districts on November 10 to protest against the wrongful policies of the Central and State governments.
