Hyderabad: Thousands of Muslims in Hyderabad have attended a rally organised by the United Muslim Forum to demand the withdrawal of an ordinance issued by India’s Central government criminalising the Triple Talaq.
To the approval of the huge gathering, and amid slogans of “Allahu Akbar”, Forum president Moulana Raheemuddin Ansari moved a resolution urging the government to respect the constitutional rights of all communities, including religious and cultural freedom.
The Forum is a grouping of several Muslim organisations.
“The Supreme Court has delivered many judgments against the recognised moral values and Indian traditions to protect the individual freedom of groups whose number is less than one per cent. But in respect of Muslims the attitude of the government was in sharp contrast. Conspiracies were being hatched to deprive Muslims of their religious identity though they are the second biggest majority in the country,” the resolution said.
It argued that, when the government could not achieve its target through Parliament, it used the backdoor of an ordinance.
“This meeting strongly condemns the move of the government and hopes that it will reconsider its decision,” Ansari said.
Addressing the mammoth meeting, Member of Parliament of president of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), Asaduddin Owaisi, termed the ordinance unconstitutional, violation of the fundamental rights of Muslims and a flagrant intervention in Sharia.
He said, by issuing such an ordinance, the Narendra Modi government was trying to divert the attention of the people from its failures.
Referring to the recent Supreme Court judgment on the status of the mosque in Islam he questioned how a retiring Chief Justice could fix the date of the hearing on the Babari Masjid case.
Outgoing Chief Justice Dipak Mishra had said that the case would be heard from October 29. Owaisi said, “Technically you should not do this. The new chief justice, after taking charge, should fix the date and decide what bench it will go to”.
The meeting was addressed by religious scholars and leaders of various religious and social organisations including Majlis-e-Ulema-e-Deccan, Jamat-e-Islami, Imaraat-e-Millat-e-Islamia, Shia religious leaders and others.
