Congress, BJP whip to MPs: Be present in Rajya Sabha for discussion on triple talaq bill

Fireworks are expected in Parliament today over triple talaq bill and Koregaon-Bhima violence that rocked Maharashtra recently.

NEW DELHI: Both Congress, as well as BJP on Friday, issued a whip to all their Rajya Sabha members asking them to be present in the house today as fireworks are expected in Parliament over the contentious triple talaq bill and Koregaon-Bhima violence that rocked Maharashtra recently.     

Importantly, the ongoing winter session of the Parliament also concludes today.

In view of the deadlock over the triple talaq bill, the Narendra Modi government is likely to make its last-ditch effort to get the bill approved by the Upper House, chances of which are grim with the Opposition insisting on sending it a Select Committee for detailed scrutiny.

On Thursday, the deadlock on the triple talaq bill in the Rajya Sabha continued with the government rejecting the opposition's insistence on sending the bill to a Select Committee for detailed scrutiny.

With no agreement, the government placed the bill in the bottom in the list of business, which the opposition strongly objected to and demanded that its motions for referring the bill to a Select Committee be taken up immediately.

Senior Congress leader PL Punia alleged that the BJP and the RSS ignited violence in Maharashtra's Pune district on January 1.

"The Maharashtra government failed to control the violence there. We demand immediate arrest of the two accused named in the FIR for allegedly instigating violence in Pune," he said, asking why the government was protecting the accused linked to Hindutva outfits. 

"We demand legal action against those who were trying to disturb harmony," he said, adding that the violence was spreading to other states like Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.

The bill, which has divided political parties and drawn criticism from several Muslim bodies, was passed by the Lok Sabha on December 28. It now has to be passed by the Rajya Sabha to become a law.

But the Congress, which supported the bill in the Lok Sabha, wants certain changes to the bill - such as making provisions for providing financial aid to Muslim women divorced through instant triple talaq - before supporting its passage in the upper House.

It accused the ruling BJP of practising a policy that disturbs communal harmony and alleged that violence against Dalits has risen in all states where the BJP was in power.

Congress leader Pramod Tiwari said even parties like the TDP and the BJD, which have stood with the BJP, were with the opposition on the issue. Even "independent" parties like the INLD have distanced themselves from the BJP, he added.