By Nilanjan MukhopadhyayThere are two facets to the debate over the anti-instant triple talaq (ITT) law enacted in Parliament on Tuesday. One, it was easy peasy for the government getting the Bill passed, courtesy walkouts and absence of Opposition parties and MPs superficially opposed to the legislation. There was little bipartisan scrutiny of the Bill.Two, BJP’s larger political objective. The party’s strategy left adversaries either on the horns of dilemma, or unsure of which way to slink away when faced with BJP’s atypical concern for Muslim women.In contrast, opposition to the Bill was founded on denial about the genuine grievances against ITT, and also lacked purpose, direction and sincerity.Under the present dispensation, BJP initiates no action unless assured of victory. On subjects crucial to its political charter, the leadership wouldn’t risk bipartisan re-evaluation since it could have resulted in the ‘dilution’ of the proposed law.The behaviour of various parties and lawmakers who ensured that BJP’s minority became majority in the House, showed their inability to counter BJP’s accusation of them being ‘pro-minority’. Blindsided, they did not realise that siding with BJP would mark a major step in their eventual political demise. Hereafter, an ally like Janata Dal (United) leader and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar will find it tougher to retain his core base, already chipped by BJP.On ITT, BJP took the high moral ground. A ceaseless campaign was mounted, and the claim was made that the initiative was aimed at ameliorating the lot of gender-oppressed Muslim women. The Opposition had little reasoned counter.BJP’s success has been two-fold. First, it successfully conveyed to supporters within the majority community that even ‘secular’ opponents of the anti-ITT Bill were aligned with the Muslim orthodoxy.Second, BJP successfully ‘revitalised’ the impression that Muslims as a community commit ‘gender wrongs’. So, in the absence of Muslim men — and non-Muslim secular supporters of Muslim women’s cause — it became the duty of ‘Hindu men’ to ‘rescue’ Muslim women.If the script runs as planned, law criminalising ITT is likely to be considered by future historians as India’s first post-secular legislation — due to BJP’s success in obfuscating the fact that in India, it is hardly the Muslim woman who need more empowerment and justice. Women in other communities, too, continue being denied rights and discriminated against. Destitution and desertion are cruel realities Indians of almost all faiths refuse to confront.While pursuing the anti-ITT ‘project’, BJP secured the support of some Muslim women, especially among the underprivileged, already impressed by the non-discriminatory egalitarian programmes initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A very small portion of this group may have voted for BJP. But widespread support for the party is unlikely, since Muslim women will still perforce ‘make peace’ with the patriarchal norms that are hardly limited to Islam in India.Let’s be clear about one thing — like all political parties, BJP ‘cares’ for a section only because, and till the point, this section serves its purpose. In the ITT issue, ‘Muslim women’ serve this function of concern. Muslim feminist groups were the original spearheads of the anti-ITT campaign. They, willy-nilly, provided BJP with an easy opening. Yet, the vocabulary of the Hindu Right was in contrast to these feminists, who couched their arguments for gender parity within distinct personal laws, a matter tactically skirted by BJP.After stepping down as attorney general, when the Supreme Court declared ITT to be unlawful two years ago, Mukul Rohatgi described the verdict a step towards the ‘ultimate goal’ of legislating a Uniform Civil Code (UCC). But UCC is something unlikely for the BJP government to pursue in the near future because such a law would also dismantle Hindu patriarchal institutions, reopen the debate on property rights, and question the fairness of the Hindu United Family, an entity that exists despite discriminating in favour of Hindus against other communities.Seeking ‘revenge’, not justice, for wronged Muslim women was the driving spirit behind BJP’s campaign and legislation for outlawing ITT. This falls under the panoply of Muslim men who commit crimes — those who wage ‘love jihad’, engage in ‘cow slaughter’ and ‘instantaneously’ divorce their wives.Many Muslim women backed the BJP campaign in the belief that the new law will act as a deterrence. The fear is this may not hold true and, instead, we may be witness to a new wave of majoritarian elation, making Muslim women, ironically, ‘doubly’ vulnerable.