"Why Criminalise Triple Talaq When...": Kerala Chief Minister

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan lashed out at the BJP-led government at the Centre over the Triple Talaq law, questioning why the practice of instant divorce among Muslims was "criminalised when divorces happen in all religions".

"While divorces take place in all religions, it is ony the Triple Talaq that was criminalised (through the law). Why is it a criminal offence for Muslims alone? All other divorce cases are seen as civil matter in court. However, if it's a case of dvorce between a Muslin couple, then that person (husband) can be sent to jail (for pronouncing Triple Talaq to his spouse)," the Kerala CM said while inaugurating the ruling CPM's march, 'Janakeeya Prathirodha Jadha', in Kasaragod on Monday.

Chief Minister Vijayan added that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), legislation brought by the Centre to facilitate grant of citizenship to minority Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Jains and Parsis from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, would not be implemented in Kerala "at any cost".

"The Centre used religion to decide citizenship through the Citizenship Amendment Act. We have already cleared our stand on it. We won't implement it here at any cost," Mr Vijayan proclaimed.

He questioned if a country could have separate punitive standards in matters of matrimonial divorce.

"People from different religious backgrounds have come here for the conference. Can we use a different mode of punishment for each person? For a person following a certain religion, there's one law and for another, there is another law. Can we say that we got our citizenship because we were born to a particular religion?" Mr Vijayan asked.

Further, in a scathing attack on the Jamaat-e-Islami for allegedly being part of a recent meeting of the RSS, Mr Vijayan said the Jamaat's position on issues concerning minorities does not reflect the stand of other Muslim groups.

"For whom did Jamaat e Islami hold talks with the RSS? It could not have been for the minority community as the majority in our country is of a secular bent of mind and can see the communal agenda of the RSS. The stand taken by the Jamaat e Islami is not the position of other Muslim groups," he said.

The CM further alleged that a section of the Congress has a soft stand on the RSS while a section of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) took the lead in brokering an alliance with the Welfare Party.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)