UP Minister says AIMPLB is an NGO, should not interfere with Constitution

Lucknow: UP Government’s State waqf and Haj Minister, Mohsin Raza, only Muslim Minister in Yogi’s government, slammed All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) on Friday for opposing the Bill against instant triple talaq.
The Minister said that AIMPLB is an NGO, and it does not have right to interfere with Sharia or the constitution.

According to the news reported in Indian Express, after the bill was passed in the Lok Sabha, the AIMPLB raised its voice against the bill. It said that it will take steps through democratic means to “amend, improve or scrap” the Bill. It claimed that the Board should have been taken into confidence on the issue.

Mohsin Raza said that “AIMPLB member Asaduddin Owaisi was shouting in the Parliament against the Bill… AIMPLB is a social sector Organisation, an NGO… which should be working for the welfare of Muslim women, for education of Muslims… but they would not do so as educated people would not believe them.”

He further added that “Triple talaq is not part of Sharia… it has been accepted as an evil by the Supreme Court as well. Even Islamic countries across the world have not accepted it. Be it talaq or namaz, they are all titles, which hold no significance till the procedure set out for them is adopted.”

The Minister also went on to say that “Thus, for all those who are against the Bill, if merely uttering talaq thrice can break a marriage, then reciting ‘nikah, nikah, nikah’ should mean that the wedding has been solemnised… and simply saying namaz three times should mean that prayers have been offered.”

Further, pointing to AIMPLB, Mohsin Raza said that “They cannot interfere in the matters of Sharia or Constitution. The Bill has been passed in Lok Sabha as per law. They can give suggestions like others, but it is not fair to become so rigid…” He said those opposing the Bill are aware of the facts, but the “Muslim community was being misled for the sake of votebank politics”.
He also attacked opposition parties and told to PTI that “Opposition should first say on what basis the AIMPLB should have been made a stakeholder while finalising the draft of the Bill… Opposition parties are always eager to take undue advantage of casteist and communal sentiments. They point fingers at us and accuse the BJP of being a communal party. In fact, the remote control of AIMPLB is in the hands of the Opposition, who have been baffled (by the Bill).”

Raza also added that “Please try to think why the BJP or PM Narendra Modi had to take an initiative and draft such a law in the first place. What was the need to do so? You call Modi anti-Muslim. If the AIMPLB thinks for the well-being of the community, it should list welfare works it had done for Muslims since its inception… AIMPLB, in the garb of welfare, talks about exploitation even today.

The Indian Express also quoted Mohsin Raza as saying that “Triple talaq is nothing but exploitation of hapless women.” He alleged that it was because of AIMPLB and the Congress that Muslim women had to suffer for the last 30 years. “It was a historic day for Muslim women and the Prime Minister should be thanked for it.”

Mohsin Raza also told PTI that “Muslim women have been dominated for ages by Muslim men… Why in the 1985 Shah Bano case, when the Supreme Court pronounced a judgment, they (AIMPLB) pressured the then Rajiv Gandhi government and the judgement was ultimately reversed? This resulted in Muslim women facing hardships since 1980s, and the AIMPLB and Congress are responsible for it.”