AIMIM Chief Asaduddin Owaisi called the central
government’s decision to increase the minimum age of marriage for women from 18
to 21 ‘ridiculous’ and ‘typical paternalism’.
He said that both men and women should be allowed to
legally marry at the age of 18 since
they are considered adults by the law for all other purposes.
He also accused Modi Government of acting like a Mohalla
deciding what Indians should eat, who and when they should marry, and what god
they 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 choose
how their data is used, why can’t they choose their life partners? 11/n”, he
tweeted.
Another tweet from The chief of AIMIM (All India
Majlis-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 can
make INFORMED decisions rather than fixing arbitrary age restrictions 10/n”
This reaction From Owaisi came after the Union Cabinet
cleared a proposal to lift the age of marriage for women from 18 to 21.
The government as a defending move said that this step
has been taken to mitigate malnutrition among women.
Owaisi further wrote that if the Pm was really sincere
then he would have focused more on the creation of economic opportunities for
women.