Emraan Hashmi and Yami Gautam Dhar starrer HAQ has sparked conversations surrounding women’s rights, laws, and the discrimination faced by them within personal law in matters of divorce, maintenance, inheritance, marital rights and more. Recently, BJP State Vice President of Andhra Pradesh Vishnu Vardhan Reddy took a dig at the leader of opposition, Rahul Gandhi, asking him a burning question whether he will watch HAQ and/or will he apologise for the 1986 law that stripped women of their rights.
Penning a detailed post on X, Vishnu Vardhan Reddy asks Rahul Gandhi, “Why has the Congress Party never apologized for the 1986 law that weakened the rights of Muslim women passed under your late father, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi?” He mentioned that the law, enacted after the Shah Bano judgment, took away Muslim women’s rights to maintenance granted by the Supreme Court, with many legal scholars and reformers describing it as discriminatory and deeply regressive.
Highlighting the after-effects, Vishnu Vardhan Reddy mentions that even after 40 years, the women affected by that decision continue to live with its consequences. Directly asking a number of questions to Rahul Gandhi, Reddy adds, “You speak of changing India. But how can genuine change happen if your party refuses to acknowledge a historic wrong?” and concludes with, “The nation will accept either: Courage to face the truth, or courage to correct the past. What is unacceptable is silence.”
Earlier, audiences had strongly reacted to HAQ trailer, with many commenting “Another blunder of Congress is revealing,” and “Congress and its wrongdoings, even on its beloved peaceful community women...case of Shah Bano.” Now that BJP State Vice President of Andhra Pradesh Vishnu Vardhan Reddy has put forth a burning question - will Congress answer?