New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is understood to have sought to drop the controversial triple talaq bill from the government’s priority list to first press all legislations that can be passed smoothly in the Lok Sabha.
The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2019, was introduced by the government in the Lok Sabha last Friday as its first legislation and it was expected to be taken up for consideration this week.
The Bill has been on top of the government’s agenda since 2017, but it remained stuck in the Rajya Sabha, forcing repeated promulgations of ordinance.
Sources said the PM wants maximum business conducted in the first session of the Lok Sabha by first getting passed the Bills that may sail through smoothly instead of getting bogged down with the controversial ones.
They, however, stressed that the PM is not putting on the back-burner the Triple Talaq Bill. In fact, he sought the support of the Congress for it during his reply to the motion of thanks to the President on Tuesday. In any case, the Bill has to be passed in this session itself which will continue till July 26 as otherwise the ordinance will lapse.
He also chided the opposition in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday for blocking this and many other Bills passed by the previous Lok Sabha that lapsed on its dissolution after the elections. Think of the cost on the people as the Lok Sabha is required to pass the same Bills again, he said.
Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu had also stressed in his random thoughts on Friday for review of the Constitutional provision on lapse of the pending Bills on the new Lok Sabha elections.
The government is first pushing nine Bills that will replace the Ordinances issued since the last session of the Lok Sabha in February.
Accordingly, the Special Economic Zones (Amendment) Bill to replace the Ordinance issued on March 2 was taken up for consideration and passage on Wednesday. The Bill was passed by a voice vote after four hours of debate.
Another Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill to replace yet another Ordinance issued on the same day was also listed on Wednesday’s agenda, but it was deferred for consideration on Thursday.
Two other such Bills to replace the Ordinances of March are listed on the Lok Sabha’s agenda for Thursday. They are: J&K Reservation (Amendment) Bill and Homeopathy Central Council (Amendment Bill).
