Muslim activists and petitioners against the practice of triple talaq on Wednesday demanded that the Centre clear ambiguity over the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and issue its draft for the public to debate before taking any action.

“While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government’s stand on triple talaq — that it is not justified — in its affidavit in the Supreme Court is favourable, its move to initiate discussions and seek public opinion about a common civil code in the present scenario is an attempt to politicise and communalise gender justice-related issues,” they said at a press conference.

They claimed that the move would encourage All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), which has vehemently opposed a ban on triple talaq, and its supporters to look at it as an attack on Islam, which would depict the BJP as a champion of women’s rights, and the Muslims as a community unwilling to comply with the law of the land.

Activist Javed Anand said statements of BJP ministers, including Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu, and Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad that the issue of polygamy and triple talaq should not be conflated with the broader issue of UCC and issue of a questionnaire to people about the UCC by the Law Commission were deliberate attempts by the BJP and the RSS to exploit the Muslim community.

Noorjehan Safia Niaz, one of the petitioners in the SC and co-founder of Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, said political parties’ change in stand on issues to gain political mileage will not help the women. She said triple talaq has been abolished by many Muslim-dominated countries, including Pakistan and Bangladesh, and questioned the AIMPLB about it.

The activists and petitioners questioned the Ulema [scholars of Islamic law] on whether the Muslim-dominated countries that have brought reforms in family laws are guilty of violating the Quranic instructions, and on that basis, how does the AIMPLB defend its plea that triple talaq, halala and polygamy are an integral part of Islam.