Minor muslim girls marriage: Kerala Congress opposes move

KOCHI: Charges of minority appeasement, a fresh debate on women’s emancipation, and widening chasm between the old guard and the youth of the powerful Indian Union Muslim League — the biggest coalition partner of the Congressled UDF government in Kerala — are making the latest move by a group of Muslim organisations in Kerala a political hot potato that the Congress is desperately trying to distance itself from.

On Sunday, a day after leaders of nine Muslim organisations — that included a senior IUML leader — met and decided to move the Supreme Court seeking the quashing of the law that stipulates age of marriage at 18 years, Congress spokesman MM Hassan was at pains to explain that neither the Congress party nor the UDF government supported the move.

Hassan aligned himself with the view of Muslim Students Federation (MSF) — the youth wing of IUML — that the move would be a blow to the efforts to gain educational progress by Muslim women. “Age of marriage is not the important issue confronting the community,” he told ET.

In New Delhi, RSS spokesman Ram Madhav slammed the move. “RSS feels that 18 years as age of consent for girls is fair and had been arrived at after due debate and consideration and there should not be any attempt to dilute it.” The Kerala unit of BJP described the move as an attempt to Talibanise Kerala.

Incidentally, Muslim Educational Society and Muslim Service Society, the two organisations that took part in Saturday meeting, have on Sunday gone back from their earlier positions. They now want more debate.