Daniel J. Pipes

7 readers online now  |  62 million page views

120,193 comments by 30,674 readers

Go to Mobile Site

Unfortunate legacy from a confused irreligious PM

Reader comment on item: Obama vs. McCain on the Middle East
in response to reader comment: India is also an example...

Submitted by Devasahayam (United States), Jun 19, 2008 at 09:16

This particular allowance to that huge minority was enacted by Rajiv Gandhi after a Muslim was ordered by court that his "3-talaq" divorce did not exempt him from alimony obligations (the man was about 72, the woman Shah Bano about 63) especially after 40 years marriage--after India's horrible top mullah Abdullah Bukhari (his equally horrible son Ahmed now occupies that post) had pressed him on this.

Note also that the Shah Bano divorce case occured after Muslims (urged-on by Bukhari, and MP Syed Shahabuddin) had started riots in Meerut and Bijnaur Districts in 1987!

Rajiv Gandhi's father was a Mumbai Parsi named Firoz, no relation to "Nation's Father" Mohandas:

  • his birth certificate was marked "Birjis" (a Parsi name--though he wasn't raised as one, after his parents separated)
  • his marriage certificate was marked "Robert"
  • he showed the proof of his lack of religiosity in attempt to win hearts of Prayag-constituency voters in a 1988 byelection--by displaying "sacred thread" over outer garments--act equivalent to one in West doing so with undergarments! Needless to say, this backfired handing a decisive victory to another party's candidate, Vishwanath Pratap Singh (who later served as India's PM for less than one year).

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

Comment on this item

Name
Email Address (optional)
Title of Comments
Comments:

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

See recent outstanding comments.

Join Daniel Pipes on a Fact Finding Expedition to Israel, March 2012
For full details click here

ADVERTISEMENTS

History News Network
eXTReMe Tracker
Shop BestofVegas for your next Vegas Vacation

Follow Daniel Pipes

Facebook   Twitter   RSS   Join Mailing List

All materials written by Daniel Pipes on this site © 1968-2012 Daniel Pipes. Email: daniel.pipes@gmail.com

You can help support Daniel Pipes' work by making a tax-deductible donation to the Middle East Forum. Daniel J. Pipes