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Asks Modi government to ensure the bill is passed in budget session, instead of referring it to a Rajya Sabha select committee.

Bengaluru: A Kerala woman imam who became the first in India to lead Friday prayers last week has urged the Modi government to ensure that the triple talaq bill is passed in the budget session itself.

The comments by Jamida K. coincide with appeals by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind to political parties to help pass the controversial bill that will criminalise instant triple talaq.

“There should not be any more delay. Triple talaq is unconstitutional. It is against the scriptures and we should fearlessly oppose this practice,” Jamida, who has spoken against triple talaq in the past and received death threats, told ThePrint by phone. “I hope the Rajya Sabha also passes the bill.”

The BJP-led NDA government and the opposition have locked horns over the bill in Parliament with the latter asking it to refer the controversial bill to a select committee of the Rajya Sabha.

But Jamida is of the view that enough discussion has taken place over the triple talaq issue and it’s time for action.

Jamida, 34, shot into prominence last week when she led an all-male congregation, although small, at a mosque in Cherukode in Malappuram district of Kerala. While her act was lauded by many, Jamida was also abused and threatened on social media by a section for allegedly being “disrespectful to Islam”.

“I am not afraid. I am in this battle on my own. My family has left me to fight this battle on my own and I will,” she said.

She claims her decision to lead the prayers has emboldened all those women who have silently suffered under what she calls the “draconian rules” of Islam.

Elaborating on her demand to not refer the triple talaq bill to a Rajya Sabha panel, Jamida said : “The committee is a body of a few people who may not really know the impact of triple talaq. So I feel that the Rajya Sabha should pass it as soon as possible.”

“Now for example, when the dowry prohibition act was brought into force, did they speak to any specific board,” she asked.

Jamida dismissed the argument that the BJP was trying to woo Muslim voters through the triple talaq bill.

She said this argument is “fundamentally contradictory because the issue had been the subject of discussion even when the Congress was in power”.

“Would the people have said it was a way of appeasing the Muslim women voters then? I think, we should look forward to becoming a progressive society, free from all regressive thoughts,” she said.

Jamida insisted that her fight was not against men, but against the system that gave “absolutely no freedom to a woman”.

“There was a need to break the shackles and the triple talaq bill will be a milestone in this (fight),” she said.

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