Govt to promulgate ordinances with polls in mind

Sending a politically loaded message, the Narendra Modi government on Tuesday decided to promulgate ordinances on contentious criminalisation of Triple Talaq and a politically significant move to regulate chit funds.

The Union Cabinet also decided to re-promulgate Indian Medical Council (Amendment Second Ordinance-2019) during a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

However, the NDA government has not come up with an ordinance on the Citizenship Amendment Bill, though both Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah have raised the pitch over the proposed legislation, which has run into trouble in the north-east where the saffron party's allies are up in arms against it.

The ordinance on Triple Talaq is being issued for the third time in less than one year and the BJP seeks to send a political message to its constituency. The Opposition parties are against the criminalisation of triple talaq and were demanding that the bill is sent to Rajya Sabha Select Committee for further scrutiny.

While the Lok Sabha has passed, the bill has failed to clear the Rajya Sabha hurdle where the Opposition has numbers. Opposition leaders said the Triple Talaq Bill is opposed in its present form by at least 17 parties. If one adds JD(U), BJD and TRS, they said, it comes to 20 while on the other hand, BJP can boast about the support of only Shiv Sena and Akali Dal.

The Cabinet also cleared an ordinance on banning of unregulated deposit schemes after it could not get the bill passed in Rajya Sabha. The debate on the bill exposed chinks in Opposition ranks as Congress and CPM targeted Trinamool Congress, the ruling party in West Bengal, on chit-fund scams in which the latter's leaders are named by the CBI.

With the BJP aiming big in West Bengal, it is likely to up the ante on the chit-fund scams and use the ordinance as a campaign plank.

The Indian Medical Council (Amendment Second Ordinance-2019) is being issued as the National Medical Commission Bill is stuck in Parliament due to objections from Opposition parties.