The senior BJP leader said the Congress could have made its suggestions on the bill in Parliament during a debate but it saw to this that no meaningful debate occur as it was driven by vote bank politics.
The Congress needs to explain why it took one stand in the Lok Sabha and another in the Rajya Sabha as it "fully supported" the bill in the former and did not press even for division on amendments, he said.
"The Congress has followed the same politics from Shah Bano in 1986 to Shayara Bano in 2017. We were open for discussion and keen that debate must happen in Parliament. Let the whole country see the Congress' behaviour," he told PTI.
While the then Congress government had brought in a law to negate a Supreme Court order for alimony in the Shah Bano case, Shayara Bano was a petitioner in a plea against the practise of triple talaq.
Also Read
"The Congress wanted to decriminalise it (instant triple talaq). It is continuing unabated despite the Supreme Court order and we need to have a special deterrence," he said.
The government wanted a debate but the Congress interrupted him even when he was making initial observations while introducing the bill, he said.
Prasad's attack on the Congress after it held the BJP responsible for the impasse in Rajya Sabha, accusing the ruling party of trying to use Parliament as a "rubber stamp".
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar, however, asserted after the Winter Session ended today that the government was committed to the bill, which seeks up to three years of imprisonment for Muslim men convicted of instant triple talaq.
The government will press for its passage in the Budget Session starting from January 29.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content