On July 4, the Lok Sabha passed the Aadhaar & Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019. This Bill will replace the Aadhaar Ordinance that was adopted in March.

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen MP Asaduddin Owaisi opposed the Bill in Parliament, calling it a “classic case of Halala”. Nikah halala is a Muslim practice in which a woman, after being divorced, marries another man, consummates the marriage, and gets divorced again in order to remarry her former husband.

“This government does not believe in jio aur jeeene do (live and let live), they believe only in Jio,” Owaisi said. Owaisi pointed out that the Supreme Court had termed the process of making citizens’ private information available to private companies a vice, but the government was making it a virtue with its Bill. He also accused the government of “demeaning the Parliament” by bringing in this Bill and succumbing to the pressure of private companies.