BJP MLA Hari Bhushan Thakur demands withdrawal of voting rights of Muslim community
The hijab row may be losing wind, but right-wing elements continue to find new ways to fan the flames of communal divide. As Uttar Pradesh reaches its last leg of state elections, RSS-affiliated members demand the withdrawal of the Muslim community’s voting rights and a higher marriage age for Muslim women.
The first demand was made by Bihar’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Haribhushan Thakur on February 26, 2022. A day before the fifth phase of election, all attention turned towards Thakur who said that the government should take away voting rights of all Muslims. Thakur’s argument was that two countries were created in 1947 on the basis of religion. According to Thakur, Muslims should have left at the time but since this did not happen, they should be stripped of their voting rights and treated as second-class citizens.
His inflammatory statement led to a chaotic Assembly session during which other MLAs condemned Thakur for his words. During his speech, Thakur also alleged that Muslims want to make India an Islamic state as per the “ISI agenda”. Worse still, he claimed that Muslims are not a minority in India. This despite the clear mention of religious and linguistic minorities in Article 30 of the Indian Constitution. The Muslim community has been long since recognised as a religious minority in the country. Further, the Sachar committee called the group a national-level minority, further labelling Thakur’s statements as blatant misinformation.
Already, hundreds of campaigns continue in India to dissuade people against such minority aggressions. Particularly, in Uttar Pradesh, concerned citizens groups observe ‘Paigam-e-Mohabbat’ a programme to dissuade communal divisions across the state, especially given how Assemble elections are on and results are due on March 10. Organisers condemned politicians trying to disrupt the social fabric for the sake of votes.
Similarly, leaders of another people-led movement – the nationwide farmers’ struggle – warned people not to fall prey to attempts by extremists to divide the society along communal lines. However, this did not dissuade the right-wing, and on March 6, it launched a campaign of its own to increase the marriage age of women.
According to Amar Ujala, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) -affiliated Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MRM) announced a campaign to change the Shariat laws and give Muslim women equal rights. Additionally, it called for a separate space in Masjids for women to offer Namaz.Current Shariat laws dictate that girls who reach puberty can be married. The MRM called this a dated law and said that in many villages, girls are married off at 12-13 years and bear four to five children by 20 years of age. To discourage this, the MRM said it visited about 40 districts of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
Earlier, in December 2021, the government cleared a similar proposal to raise the legal age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 years. However, women’s rights groups like the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) decried the move to be totally ineffective at a time when the government is yet to meet people’s nutritional, educational and employment needs.
Considering the MRM argues that the change in Shariat laws is demanded by the progressive members of the community, it is worth considering that larger progressive groups in India are criticising the passive move to increase marriage age without addressing other more immediate concerns such as nutrition, education and employment, that directly impact a woman’s ability to become and remain independent.
Both these incidents focusing on the Muslim community came to light days before important polling days in UP. The seventh and final phase of UP is taking place on February 7, Monday and includes Varanasi, the constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Related:
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Paigam-e-Mohabbat: UP citizens call for harmony
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Scrap the move to raise the age of marriage of girls to 21: AIDWA