AIMIM Chief Asaduddin Owaisi called the centralgovernment’s decision to increase the minimum age of marriage for women from 18to 21 ‘ridiculous’ and ‘typical paternalism’.
He said that both men and women should be allowed tolegally marry at the age of 18 sincethey are considered adults by the law for all other purposes.
He also accused Modi Government of acting like a Mohalladeciding what Indians should eat, who and when they should marry, and what godthey should worship.
“In contrast, Modi govt acts like a Mohalla Uncle.Deciding what we eat, who/when we marry, what God we worship, etc Ironically,govt proposes 18 as the age of consent in Data Bill. If 18-year old can choosehow their data is used, why can’t they choose their life partners? 11/n”, hetweeted.
Another tweet from The chief of AIMIM (All IndiaMajlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen) reads:
“In many US states, marriage age is as low as 14. In UK& Canada, it’s 16. In NZ, 16-19-year-old can marry with parental consent.These nations improved the human development of young people so that they canmake INFORMED decisions rather than fixing arbitrary age restrictions 10/n”
This reaction From Owaisi came after the Union Cabinetcleared a proposal to lift the age of marriage for women from 18 to 21.
The government as a defending move said that this stephas been taken to mitigate malnutrition among women.
Owaisi further wrote that if the Pm was really sincerethen he would have focused more on the creation of economic opportunities forwomen.