Triple talaq bill in Rajya Sabha today

The contentious triple talaq bill will come up for discussion in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday with the government and Opposition all set to once again lock horns on the legislation, which has not cleared the Upper House hurdle so far.

The Opposition will insist on sending the bill to a Rajya Sabha Select Committee for further Parliamentary scrutiny. Last week, the Lok Sabha has passed the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, a pet bill for the BJP, which is popularly known as the triple talaq bill.

The Opposition will insist that the bill had never been scrutinised by a parliamentary committee earlier when it was passed at least twice by the Lok Sabha during the first term of the Narendra Modi government.

CPM Deputy Leader in the Rajya Sabha Elamarom Kareem has said he has submitted a notice to send the Bill to a Select Committee. Parties like Congress, Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party and BSP among others had too demanded the same.

Along with the bill, a statutory resolution opposing the ordinance on triple talaq will also be moved by CPI's Binoy Viswam, CPM's Kareem and K K Ragesh and Congress' T Subbarami Reddy. The government had issued ordinances three times after failing to get it passed earlier.

With plans to send the RTI (Amendment) Bill to a select committee exposed chinks in Opposition ranks, the government hopes that it can take the bill through this time though it had failed in the Upper House during earlier attempts.

However, BJP will have to factor in abstentions from ally JD(U), which in the Lok Sabha had walked out. Ally AIADMK too had expressed reservations earlier. Also, non-aligned parties like BJD, TRS and YSR Congress had earlier expressed concerns over the criminalisation aspect of the Bill.

At present, the BJP-led NDA has the support of 115 MPs. However, if one takes the stand of JD(U) and AIADMK, which had earlier opposed the Bill, the number comes to 98.

The Opposition, on the other hand, has the support of 111. However, a senior Opposition leader said all is not well in the Opposition camp as not a single MP from certain parties did not vote in the RTI (Amendment) Bill.