BJP is milking Uniform Civil Code for LS polls but implementation will be tough

Implementing UCC across India has been BJP's dream since 1989, and while it may seem like the opposition will come only from Muslims, several other communities have opposed it.

As it seeks a third term, the Bharatiya Janata Party is back to the drawing board. The Ram Mandir has been inaugurated, Article 370 is abrogated, and now remains the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code – one of the core agendas of the Sangh Parivar, of which the BJP is the political wing.

This week, a panel constituted by the Uttarakhand government to look into the modalities of the implementation of the UCC in the state, submitted its report to chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami.

Right after Dhami said that his government will bring in a Bill to implement UCC in the state. The Uttarakhand Assembly will convene for a special four-day session from February 5-8 to pass the legislation. Dhami said that as per Article 44 of the Constitution, states can bring UCC.

The high-powered committee formed in 2022 had as members retired judge Permod Kohli, social activist Manu Gaur, former chief secretary Shatrughan Singh, Doon University vice-chancellor Surekha Dangwal, with Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai as chairperson.

While the report of the high-powered committee has not yet been made public, reports suggest that it will law down a minimum age of marriage, regulate live-in relationships, and will have measures for population control.

Significantly, the report recommends a ban on polygamy and will have penal provisions on Muslim Personal Law practices such as halala, iddat as well as triple talaq, which has been outlawed in India.

The Uttarakhand UCC is likely to have a domino effect. Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday said that his government is “closely monitoring” the developments in Uttarakhand, and that if the Assam government is in a position to implement the UCC, they will do so.

The BJP governments in Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat have all said that they are either exploring the UCC or have formed panels to look at its implementation in their respective states.

The UCC, high on the BJP’s political agenda, is likely to make its mark felt ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

While the BJP has been vocal about the implementation of the UCC for long, it was only after the Shah Bano case in 1985 that the party vocalised its demand politically – asking for the implementation in its 1989 election manifesto for the first time.

Since then, the demand for the UCC’s implementation has been found in the BJP’s subsequent poll manifestoes in 1991, 1998 and then in 2004.

In 1993, the BJP unsuccessfully tabled a resolution in the Parliament for a Commission to frame a law on the implementation of the UCC.However, when it was voted to power in 1999, the BJP government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee did not touch any of its three core agenda demands – the implementation of the UCC, of the Ram Temple of the abrogation of Article 370.

The demand for the UCC, among other key demands, found mention and a vociferous pursuit by the BJP under the Narendra Modi government. Whether it is the 2014 or 2019 poll manifestos, or public utterances by the party’s senior leaders, the intent was clear.

Last year, in June, in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, Modi advocated the UCC. “How can the country run on two laws? The Constitution also talks of equal rights, the Supreme Court has also asked to implement UCC. The Opposition is playing vote bank politics,” Modi had said.

Senior BJP spokesperson Gopal Agarwal says that the Uttarakhand development should be welcomed. “The Constitution of our country has always had this intention that India should have the UCC. Now, the state has taken an initiative in this regard, and I think the step is in the interest of the country. It was always mandated in our Constitution, and we welcome it,” Agarwal told DH.

Syed Qasim Rasool Ilyas of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board says that they stand opposed to it, because there is no need for such a legislation.

“With the legislation, the government is trying to make a code compulsory on all people, while we already have an option for civil code under the Special Marriage Act – those who do not want to be governed by a personal law can opt for it. Additionally, Article 44 states that UCC cannot be enacted by the state government, it is not their mandate. By bringing it in haste, without discussion, the BJP only has in mind the upcoming Parliamentary elections,” Ilyas said.

He added that the Centre should wait for the Law Commission’s report on the matter.

In 2018, the 21st Law Commission of India, said that the UCC was “neither necessary nor desirable at this stage”. The government later said that the observation was a part of a consultation paper and not a report, and consequently, the 22nd Law Commission of India, has taken up the matter.

By July last year, it had received over 80 lakh responses, but is yet to file a report.

A member of the 21st Law Commission, who did not wish to be named, said that without the codification of the Muslim personal laws, the implementation might not be as simple in the national space.

The Uttarakhand report, however, will not be applicable to the tribals in the state, which account of 2.9% of its population. Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, too, has said that the tribals in the state, which account for more than 12% of the population, will be exempt.

Ilyas says that if some populations are exempt, then it is discriminatory. “If it is discriminatory, it will be unconstitutional,” he added.

While it may seem like the opposition will come only from Muslims, several other communities, too, have opposed it. The Shiromani Akali Dal has held consultations last year in opposition to the UCC, and the BJP’s allies – the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) in Nagaland and the National People’s Party in Meghalaya – too have voiced concerns. The Mizo National Front (MNF) as well as the Sikkim Democratic Party, too, have said they are opposed.

Politically, the BJP might strike up a conversation with the UCC, but implementation will not be an easy task.