BJP says triple talaq petitioner Shayara Bano to join party, she says not final yet

Speaking to The Indian Express over the phone, Bano said, “I met Bhattji in Dehradun and he suggested that I join BJP, and further my work for the rights of Muslim women. I thanked him for the proposal. However, I haven’t yet agreed or disagreed to join the BJP. Currently, I’m thinking about whether I should enter politics.”

“Before I can join the BJP, I will have to take permission from the gram pradhan and the panchayat of my village — Kashipur (rural) in Udham Singh Nagar district,” Bano said.

Bhatt said the party would have an advantage if she joins. “Bano has stood for women’s rights. Her presence will be an advantage for us, especially because we support her cause,” he said.

While no date has been fixed, Bhatt said Bano will be made a party member soon, and a “grand event will be organised either in Dehradun, Delhi, or Kashipur to welcome her to the party”.

Senior Congress leader and former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat said that if Bano joins the BJP, it will prove to be counter-productive.

“Till she fought for the rights of Muslim women, she was working for a cause. But joining the BJP would be a kind of showbaazi (showmanship). It will not do any good,” he said.

Bano, a mother of two, married a businessman from Allahabad, Rizwan Ahmed, in April, 2002.

In 2015, while she was at Kashipur with her parents, she received a talaqnama.

She approached the Supreme Court in 2016, challenging the Islamic practice of instant instant triple talaq, polygamy and nikah halala.