‘Was being sarcastic’: IUML MP on Muslim women with BJP post triple talaq law
The MP on Friday claimed that he made the remarks in a sarcastic tone and that he was ‘misunderstood’
Rajya Sabha MP and Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader PV Abdul Wahab on Friday sought to backtrack from his remarks in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, where he said that Muslim women were supporting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after they brought the law criminalising ‘triple talaq’, the practice of instant divorce.
The MP on Friday claimed that he made the remarks in a sarcastic tone and that he was ‘misunderstood’.
“I have always openly criticised the BJP. My statement that Muslim women have been rallying in support of the BJP ever since the ban on Triple Talaq was pure sarcasm. I think I was terribly misquoted by the media,” Wahab said.
“You (BJP), being in power at the Centre, I request you to consider Muslims not just as a minority. We have a percentage (of strength) here (in the House). After triple talaq, all the Muslim women are with you (BJP), and after the bill (was passed), all Muslims are with you. I have seen women coming in buses here today, I don’t know who brought them, but they are all over New Delhi. It’s good, it’s Nari Shakti,” Wahab, who was nominated by the IUML to the Rajya Sabha for the third term in 2021, was quoted saying in the Rajya Sabha during the discussion on the women’s reservation bill.
On Friday, however, he clarified that he had not praised the BJP and that his words in the Upper House were made sarcastically.
“Those who have heard me can understand that I was making fun of them (BJP). Because, whatever one says, BJP leaders always respond that they freed Muslim women by banning triple talaq. My remarks are being deliberately twisted as part of some agenda. Why would a Muslim League MP openly say that Muslim women are with BJP?” he told reporters on Friday.
Last year too, Wahab was issued a notice by the IUML after he made certain remarks in the Rajya Sabha seen as praising central ministers of the BJP.
He clarified later that his remarks were misinterpreted.
