Nitish Kumar's JDU says no to Triple Talaq Bill, exposes chinks in NDA's armour before 2019 polls

Hours after the Janata Dal-United, one of the BJP's key ally in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) decided to vote against the Triple Talaq Bill in the Rajya Sabha, BJP leader CP Thakur from Bihar launched a scathing attack on the Nitish Kumar-led party. In an apparent reference to the JD-U, Thakur said "Some political parties feel that if they support the Triple Talaq Bill, then they would lose the votes of a particular community". He also accused the party of playing votebank politics.

Early in the day, the JD-U had announced its stance on the Triple Talaq, saying it would vote against the Centre if a Bill comes up in the Rajya Sabha for passage. In a veiled attack at the BJP, the JD-U said the Triple Talaq Bill was unnecessarily “hurried and rushed up.”

“The way the Bill was taken up in a hurried manner should have been avoided and more consultation should have taken place on the issue. If it comes up in the Rajya Sabha for passage we will oppose and vote against the government,” JD-U state president Vasistha Narayan Singh told reporters in Patna.

Singh's statement came as a major embarrassment for the BJP in the run-up of the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections and most of the party's central leaders chose to remain tight-lipped on the same.

According to political observers, the JD-U cannot afford to support the Triple Talaq Bill in the view of 17 per cent Muslim population in Bihar. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has also dashed a letter to the state's Law Commission, seeking an opinion on whether the party can impose an agenda over a minority community.

Earlier, the JD-U had made it clear that it would not support the Ram Mandir agenda, one of the BJP's trump cards for the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections in 2019.

The contentious Triple Talaq Bill seeking to criminalise instant divorce was passed in the Lok Sabha on December 27 but has been stalled in the Rajya Sabha amid continuous protests and uproar by the Opposition.