Mufti, Omar trade barbs over passage of Triple Talaq Bill

New Delhi: National Conference's Omar Abdullah slammed Peoples Democratic Party leader Mehbooba Mufti for condemning the contentious Triple Talaq when her own party lawmakers were abstained from voting.

Soon after the Rajya Sabha passed the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage), Bill, 2019, Mufti tweeted, “Fail to understand the need to pass the Triple Talaq Bill especially since the Supreme Court had already declared it illegal. Undue interference seemingly to punish Muslims. Given the current state of the economy, should this really have been a priority?”

The tweet did not went well with Omar Abdullah and quickly reminded Mufti that it was her party member who abstained from voting, leading to smooth passage of the bill.

Abdullah, who tagged Mufti's on the micro-blogging site, wrote: “Mehbooba Mufti ji, you might want to check how your members voted on this bill before tweeting. I understand they abstained which helped the government with the numbers needed to pass the bill. You can’t help the government and then ‘fail to understand need to pass’!”

Responding to Abdullah, Mufti wrote: "Omar sahab, I suggest you get off your moral high horse since it was your own party that expelled Soz sahab for voting against the BJP in 1999. FYI in parliament, abstention is essentially a no vote,"

Abdullah shot back by explaining to her that an abstention is not a no vote.

"Madam, is recounting an incident from TWENTY years ago the best you can do to defend PDP duplicity? So you are accepting you instructed your MPs to abstain. And no an abstention is NOT a no vote, a no vote is a no vote. An abstention helped the BJP this time," Abdullah tweeted.

The contentious Triple Talaq Bill sailed through the upper house after a series of walkouts and abstentions on Tuesday.

The bill that bans the practice of instant divorce by Muslim men and seeks jail term for the guilty, received 99 votes in favour whereas 84 members voted against it in the upper house.