By Nirendra Dev, New Delhi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a strong pitch for introducing a secular personal code applicable to all Indians, ending the religion-based norms to govern marriage, adoption, divorce and inheritance.
This is not a very surprising remark as Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had been campaigning on these lines and made electoral promises to implement the same.
What caught many of his friends and foes by surprise was his assertion, “A large section of the country believes — and it is true — that the Civil Code that we are living with is actually a communal civil code in a way.”India attained freedom from British colonial rule in 1947 and since then has been preferring religious pluralism.
Modi and the BJP in the 2024 general election held in the summer months had promised to replace the existing religion-based civil codes with a “common” law for all Indians.
The BJP manifesto asserted that “there cannot be gender equality till such time India adopts a Uniform Civil Code [UCC], which protects the rights of all women.”
To many Indians, Modi’s statement is a pathbreaking one.
Over the decades, BJP detractors, secular writers and political rivals such as communists and India’s grand old party Congress (now in opposition) had labeled the BJP as a “pro-Hindu communal party.”
But this time the table has been turned. This is perhaps seen as one of the “biggest assaults” on the Nehruvian secularism cherished by India’s left-liberals and also by minorities including Christians and Muslims.
“Modi has sought to redefine Indian politics in the realms of an entirely new secular-communal narrative,” says Varanasi-based pro-right wing analyst Tushar Bhadra.
Journalist Harsh Vardhan says, “Modi has changed the political agenda of the last 75 years as pursued by his rivals.”
However, others disagree with what the prime minister said.
Christians are opposed to the UCC. Earlier this year during the election season, the Federation of Catholic Associations of the Archdiocese of Delhi stated that a “united” nation need not necessarily have “uniformity.”
Many Muslim leaders see the UCC as interference with centuries-old Islamic practices, including polygamy and instant divorce. Some others consider a common code as “a violation of the fundamental right of religious freedom” as guaranteed in the Indian Constitution.
“This is like a hot air balloon being floated to somehow distract people and polarise society,” remarked Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate.
The UCC is against the tenets of the Quran, the holy book of the Muslims, said the Samajwadi Party.
Communist Party of India leader D Raja said whatever Modi said only exposes the “divisive” political agenda of the BJP.
Along with the Ram temple in Ayodhya and the abrogation of Article 370 that gave autonomy to Muslim-majority Jammu and Kashmir, the UCC was the third contentious poll promise of the BJP since its foundation on April 6, 1980.
The two other pledges have already been fulfilled and the inclusion of UCC in the governance agenda of the Modi government is therefore no surprise.
The prime minister and his party colleagues, including foreign minister S Jaishankar, have time and again trumpeted the fulfilment of its promise on Article 370 that revoked autonomy in Jammu and Kashmir — the country’s only Muslim-majority region.
The proposed UCC will be a federal measure that would cover laws related to religion-based legal practices that govern marriage, inheritance and divorce.
Ideally, analysts say the UCC represents a call for unity; but in a communally sensitive pluralistic India, the concept of UCC is more often interpreted as a sign or tool of “imposition” of Hindu-led uniformity.
But BJP leaders argue there are issues such as laying emphasis and ground rules for equality of inheritance and this may have to be welcomed even by some minorities, especially women amongst Muslims and Christians.
However, all these are easier said than done.
Parsis do not recognize the rights of adoptive daughters but allow an adopted son to perform the last rites for the father.
A section of the Christian community, like the Catholic Church, does not recognize divorce.
The Christian divorce law makes a separation period of two years mandatory for any couple to get a mutual divorce, while the Succession Act of 1925 gives Christian mothers no right to the property of their deceased kids.
In Christian-majority Nagaland state in the northeast, the indigenous Naga tribal people follow extreme male chauvinism in certain matters despite their adopting Christianity and being English-educated.
In some societies, women do not have rights to their husbands’ wealth after their death; their brothers share it.
Under the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act of 1936, any woman who marries someone from another religion loses all rights to Parsi rituals and customs.
However, left to Modi and his party, the UCC is a noble concept based on equity.
In July 2023 while addressing party cadres in Madhya Pradesh, Modi said that “two laws in a house [read country] is not acceptable.”
Modi also linked his party’s UCC project to women’s rights, especially for Muslims, suggesting the practice of Islamic laws encourages discrimination against Muslim women.
Reports suggest the Congress party in 2023 discussed the issue among themselves and tried to present a nuanced view.
After the meeting attended by the former federal home minister, P Chidambaram, and other legal luminaries, it was made clear that while “uniform inheritance laws” could be supported; the Congress will oppose any imposition of “Hinduized uniformity.”
Modi has played smart politics with the UCC card as the Maharashtra-based Shiv Sena had in the past favored it in select areas. The western state along with Haryana in the north and Jharkhand in the east, with tribals and substantial Christian voters, will go to the provincial polls in October-November.
The All-India Muslim Personal Law Board opposes the UCC, stating such a new system would snatch away Muslims’ rights as protected under Muslim personal laws.
All Muslims in India are governed by the Muslim Personal Law called Shariat of 1937.
In February of this year, the BJP-ruled Uttarakhand state in north India enacted the UCC.
The UCC envisages banning polygamy and consanguine marriages — prevalent among some Muslims — and criminalizes Islamic practices such as Halala, Iddat, and forms of Islamic divorce.
“Iddat” is the 130-day period in which a woman must not remarry, to remove all ambiguity about paternity should pregnancy have occurred after the death of her husband or after a divorce.
The UCC as enacted in Uttarakhand ensures the same laws for marriage, divorce and inheritance for all, no gender difference between a son and a daughter, equal inheritance rights for both men and women and strict prohibition of child marriage.