Major Political Discourses on Triple Talaq: Case of India

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Associate Professor of East Asian and Oceania Studies, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

2 PhD Student, Indian Studies Discipline, Faculty of World Studies, University of Tehran, Iran

10.22059/jices.2025.394759.1091

Abstract

Starting from the 80’s the question of the validity of Instant Triple Talaq made its way from the courts to political sphere in India. In this regard, three major political discourses sided differently in the argument and contributed to the transformation of a judicial question to a political phenomenon. One belonged to the Orthodox Muslim community, which essentially considered the debate as an attack on its freedom of religion by an inferior Hindu-dominated structure. Another belonged to the Hindu right wing, which spotted an opportunity in this particular debate to attack Muslim community’s public image. The third one belonged to the seculars, Congress Party and its allies, which out of the fear for their vote-bank among orthodox Muslims attempted to meddle in the matters of court and further supported the narrative of Orthodox Muslim community. It is an undisputed fact that the communal tensions have been one of the major driving forces of Indian politics. Public policy and law-making processes have always been seriously affected in India by communal tensions, as India is a Hindu-majority country with a considerable population of Muslim minority. This study intends to review the position of each major discourse in this controversial debate in order to show that essentially, dislocation of the issue by the discursive competitions in a communalist society leads to blockades in progressive reforms.

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