SRINAGAR: PDP Chief Mehbooba Mufti and National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah engaged in a war of words on Twitter after the triple talaq bill cleared the Rajya Sabha hurdle. While Mufti questioned the need of the law, Omar accused her of helping the Modi government to gain strength in the Upper House to pass the legislation.
“Fail to understand the need to pass the triple talaq bill especially since the Supreme Court had already declared it illegal. Undue interference seemingly to punish Muslims. Given the current state of the economy, should this really have been a priority?” Mufti tweeted soon after the Rajya Sabha passed the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage), Bill, 2019.
The former J&K CM’s tweet didn’t go well with Omar. The NC leader said that Mufti has no right to question as her party helped the BJP in the Rajya Sabha.
“Mehbooba Mufti ji, you might want to check how your members voted on this bill before tweeting. I understand they abstained which helped the government with the numbers needed to pass the bill. You can’t help the government and then fail to understand the need to pass!” Omar Abdullah tweeted.
Mufti was quick to respond to Omar as she sought to remind him about a 1999 incident when Saifuddin Soz voted against the BJP and was expelled from the National Conference. Soz was then a leader and of the National Conference and a member of the Lok Sabha. He had voted against Atal Bihari Vajpayee resulting in the fall of his government. Then, the NC of Farooq Abdullah was a part of the BJP-led alliance. Soz was expelled from the party for voting against Vajpayee.
“Omar sahab, I suggest you get off your moral high horse since it was your own party that expelled Soz sahab for voting against the BJP in 1999. FYI in Parliament, abstention is essentially a no vote,” she said.
Omar then retorted to Mufti’s claims and alleged that an abstention means a no vote, instead, it helped the BJP this time.
“Madam, is recounting an incident from twenty years ago the best you can do to defend PDP duplicity? So you are accepting you instructed your MPs to abstain. And no an abstention is NOT a no vote, a no vote is a no vote. An abstention helped the BJP this time,” he said.
The Bill to ban ‘Triple Talaq’ sailed through the opposition-dominated upper house aided by a series of walkouts and abstentions. The bill saw stiff opposition when it was presented in the Lok Sabha. But several of the parties that opposed it – including Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United, AIADMK and K Chandrashekar Rao’s Telangana Rashtra Samithi — ended up aiding the bill’s passage.
The bill was passed, with 99 votes in its favour and 84 against. (PTK)
