The BJP has decided to oppose any move to nullify Supreme Court’s order re-criminalizing consensual sex among consenting adults, putting up a huge obstacle for any move to scrap Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
“Gay sex is not natural and we cannot support something which is unnatural,” said BJP chief Rajnath Singh putting an end to his party’s equivocation over the issue which had held out the hope that the principal Opposition may not hinder government’s plan to organize relief for the LGBT community in the aftermath of SC’s controversial order last Wednesday.
BJP president Rajnath Singh on Saturday spelt out his party’s opposition to the government’s plan to render the SC verdict on Section 377 ineffective. “Usually we would not take a stand against SC verdicts and so we don’t want to oppose the SC verdict in this instance either. It is for the government to come up with a proposal in case they want to challenge the order,” Singh said.
The stand of the principal opposition spells a huge obstacle for government’s efforts to get Section 377 de-criminalized again. Given that regional parties like the SP and TMC are either opposed or indifferent to the move to repeal or dilute Section 377, the BJP’s stand significantly shrinks the possible support for the government and may force it to take the legal route.
Sources close to Singh said that BJP chief’s statement was a well thought out move. They said that he was not impressed by the argument that gay sex should be allowed as long as it is among consenting adults. “By that yardstick, we should be allowing prostitution also because it also represents consent among adults,” said a source close to the BJP chief.
Reiterating its support for the SC order recriminalizing consensual sex among gay adults, the BJP said it would not support any “unnatural act”.
“What Rajnath Singh has said is the official stand. We have a culture and tradition and this goes against it. One cannot allow a new culture of this kind,” BJP VP Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said. Homosexuality, he added, was against established societal norms.
BJP chief Rajnath Singh had ended the party’s ambivalence on Saturday when he told TOI that if the government convened an all-party meeting on the issue, his party would support Section 377 of IPC which bans homosexuality.
Rajnath’s statement had surprised many because the matter is yet to be discussed in any party forum.
The party’s opponents have also taunted Narendra Modi for his silence. Senior leaders L K Advani and Arun Jaitley made no comments on the issue.
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