Asaduddin Owaisi Questions Centre's Decision to Raise Women Marriage Age, Says 'Just Ridiculous'

NEW DELHI: Asaduddin Owaisi, the president of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government for proposing to raise the minimum legal age for women to marry.

In a series of tweets, Owaisi described the central government's plan to raise the age of marriage for women to 21 as "typical paternalism that we have learned to anticipate." He believes that both men and women should be able to marry lawfully at the age of 18 when they are able to pick their leaders and considered as Adults by law. 

They have the ability to consent to sexual relationships and live-in partnerships, but they do not have the ability to choose their life partners? "It's just ridiculous," Owaisi wrote on his Twitter handle

Education and economic potential, more than legality, influence the age of marriage, according to the Lok Sabha MP from Hyderabad. Owaisi said social transformation and government measures in education and human development are crucial to preventing child marriages, adding to the high incidence of child marriages but few criminal charges against them.

If Modi was honest, he would have prioritized expanding women's economic chances. "Yet India is the only country where women's employment participation is declining," he remarked on Twitter. "It decreased to 16 percent in 2020 from 26 percent in 2005," he said, referring to a government report on India's female labor participation.

Owaisi emphasized the importance of improving women's educational performance in order to ensure autonomy in decision-making.

The Union Cabinet approved a proposal on December 15 to raise the legal age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 years.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the proposal during his Independence Day address in August 2020, saying the government was working on amending the legislation.

In his address to the country in October 2020, he reiterated the same issue and stated that the government would make a decision shortly. When the law is changed, both men and women will be permitted to marry at the same age, which is 21 years.

Also Read: Legal age of marriage for women

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