A gender-neutral oath as part of the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM)‘s ‘Nayi Chethana’ gender campaign, being organised by the Kudumbashree Mission in the State, has kicked up a row with certain Islamist organisations opposing specific portions of it which spoke for equal property rights for female members of the family too.
Even as claims were made from certain quarters, including by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State President K. Surendran, that the Kudumbashree has decided to remove these portions of the oath, the Kudumbashree on Sunday clarified that it has not withdrawn it.
Reason for objection
Nasar Faizi Koodathayi, leader of the Samastha Kerala Jam-Iyathul Qutba Committee, Jamaath-e-Islami leader Ilyas Moulavi and Kerala Nadvathul Mujahideen had come out against the oath saying that matters of succession should be left to those from the religion and that the oath went against the principles laid out in the Koran. Mr. Surendran, in his press release which claimed that the Kudumbashree has withdrawn the oath, accused the State government of pandering to religious fundamentalist forces.
However, a press release from the Kudumbashree Executive Director said that the reports of the Kudumbashree withdrawing the oath were false. The Kudumbashree, the nodal agency of the gender campaign, will be organising activities to raise gender-related issues for the next four weeks.
