UCC cannot become political instrument to keep country in permanent polarisation: Congress

New Delhi: With Gujarat initiating a process to implement Uniform Civil Code (UCC) after Uttarakhand, the Congress on Thursday opposed UCCs at state level and said a civil code should not become a political instrument designed to keep the country in a state of “permanent polarisation”.

It said the Article 44 talks about a Uniform Civil Code throughout the country and a UCC as envisaged in the Constitution can “only come about after widespread debate and discussion” with the objective of building a “genuine consensus”.

“It cannot become a political instrument designed to keep the country in a state of permanent polarisation,” Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh said in a statement. Multiple UCCs go against the “very idea” of Article 44 of the Constitution.

The statement came days after the BJP government in Uttarakhand implemented the UCC in the state and the Gujarat government formed a committee under former Supreme Court judge Justice Ranjana Desai to assess the need for the UCC as well as prepare a draft bill.

The Constituent Assembly, while agreeing to what became Article 44 in the Constitution of India, could not have envisaged a large number of UCCs passed in state legislatures in a “piecemeal” manner, it said.

The statement said the Uttarakhand UCC is a “poorly drafted piece of legislation” that is “highly intrusive” and “not an instrument of legal reform in the slightest” as there is “nothing that addresses the actual concerns expressed” on family law over the last decade.

It has been “forcibly imposed as an integral part” of the BJP’s “divisive agenda”, it said.

The Gujarat government has announced the formation of a panel to formulate a UCC to be introduced in the state and this comes after the Uttarakhand government recently enforced a uniform civil code in that state that, however, exempts scheduled tribes, it said.

The statement recalled that the 21st Law Commission appointed by the Modi government had submitted its 182-page 'Consultation Paper on Reform of Family Law' on 31 August, 2018 and cited from it, “while diversity of Indian culture can and should be celebrated, specific groups, or weaker sections of society must not be dis-privileged in the process. Resolution of this conflict does not mean the abolition of all differences.”

“This Commission has therefore dealt with laws that are discriminatory rather than providing a uniform civil code which is neither necessary nor desirable at this stage. Most countries are now moving towards recognition of difference and the mere existence of difference does not imply discrimination, but is indicative of a robust democracy',” the statement quoted from the consultation paper.

Subsequently, in a press note published on June 14, 2023, the 22nd Law Commission of India notified its intention to examine the subject of a uniform civil code, it said adding, “this was being done, the press note clarified, on a reference sent by the Ministry of Law and Justice. However, the 22nd Law Commission was wound up on August 31st 2024 without submitting its report on the uniform civil code. The 23rd Law Commission was announced on September 3rd, 2024, but its composition has not yet been made public.”