Annie Raja, Communist Party of India (CPI) leader and renowned women’s rights activist, raised doubts over the BJP’s intentions in the triple talaq debate.
“Yogi Adityanath is an ardent believer of Manusmriti’s inscriptions, a fact that he has himself admitted. It never allows women a position of equality and respect,” she told The Wire.
She attributed a “hidden agenda” to the BJP for singling out the issue of triple talaq. “Even the prime minister is talking about it. This is nothing but using it for political gains. If they are really concerned about injustices meted out to women, they should take it up in a holistic way. Why are they singling out one issue? Do they mean to say that interests of women from other religions have already been safeguarded? It is sad that the government is trying to gain out of the pathetic conditions of women. Women have been discriminated in all the religious personal laws. Why can they not talk about women’s issues, irrespective of their caste and religious loyalties,” she asked.
[AJOY ASHIRWAD MAHAPRASHASTA cites in his article “Adityanath’s 2014 Article Equating Women With Demons Comes Back to Haunt Him”, The Wire, 19 April 2017]