Thiruvananthapuram: It's been a free-for-all this week with every leading political party in Kerala declaring in one voice that the marriageable age of Muslim girls should not be reduced from the present 18 years.
The trigger was nine frontline Muslim organisations deciding at Kozhikode last week to approach the Supreme Court for reducing the marriageable age from 18 but didn't specify what it should be.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, as is his wont, brushed aside the issue, saying the law of the land would deal with this. Many were surprised that the CPI-M took a few days to react and when it did, it slammed the IUML, naming it as the villain in the decision to approach the Supreme Court.
Leader of Opposition V.S.Achuthanandan, known for his biting reactions, did not disappoint when he said that it would be best not to mention the "culture" of the IUML, which would prefer the marriageable age of Muslim girls to be 14 and not even 16.
