Thiruvananthapuram: Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Kerala President Rajeev Chandrashekhar on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on the Indian Union Muslim League, which is in coalition with the Congress in the state, of attempting to “smuggle in Islamic Sharia law kind of a system” that, he said, could take women back to the Stone Age.
Chandrashekhar’s reaction comes days after Kerala Grand Mufti Sheikh Abubakr Ahmad’s remarks that women should remain at home and stay away from public life, triggered a controversy.
Speaking to IANS, the Kerala BJP chief said: “I am appealing to every Indian across the country to observe what is happening in Kerala under this Congress-Muslim League government. It is extremely disturbing. The Indian Union Muslim League is today transgressing every constitutional propriety and boundary and is trying to smuggle in, through the back door, a foreign ideology and Islamic Sharia law kind of a system that could take our women and girls back to the stone ages. That is not acceptable.”
Chandrashekhar also hit out at Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, saying: “Their (IUML) Minister keeps saying ‘Religion is our priority’. If that is what the Indian Union Muslim League is, how come Rahul Gandhi talks about patriarchy and gives a certificate to the Indian Union Muslim League as a ‘secular party’?”
“These are very disturbing trends in Kerala and is only happening because the Muslim League knows that the Congress government is under its thumb, and that is surviving because of the latter,” he alleged.
Meanwhile, the Grand Mufti sought to clarify his remarks, saying that his intention was not to demean women but to ensure their protection and respect. However, a comparison he used during the speech became the focal point of the controversy.
To bolster his contention, he referred to a gold necklace displayed in a jewellery shop. According to him, a gold necklace is kept securely inside a cupboard, a box, and protective packaging before being shown to customers, whereas a stone-grinding machine is often left by the roadside. He argued that if a gold necklace were left on the road, passers-by could touch it, affecting its beauty and value.
Using this analogy, he suggested that bringing women into public life could result in “great destruction” and described purdah as a system designed to prevent such consequences.
(IANS)
