Uniform Civil Code heats up political temperature

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By Our Special Correspondent

New Delhi, June 15: The move of the Law Commission to examine the issue of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) is stepping up the political head in the run up to a series of Assembly elections, as well as the Lok Sabha polls next year. The move incidentally has come on the reference of the Ministry of Law and Justice.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre had promised to implement the UCC in the run up to the election campaign in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. The saffron outfit is consistently pitching the UCC in the state elections.

The 22^nd Law Commission on Wednesday stated that it would examine the issue afresh. This is despite the fact that the 21^st Law Commission had concluded that the UCC was neither desirable nor necessary, while laying emphasis in celebrating diversity.

The Congress has read the poll plot in the Law Commission’s missive to look into the issue of the UCC, saying that the move is aimed at polarization in the country. “The latest attempt represents the Modi government’s desperation for a legitimate justification of its continuing agenda of polarization and diversion from its glaring failures,” Jairam Ramesh, the communication department of the Congress, said in an official statement.

After winning the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP-led government at the Centre had built up a narrative to outlaw the practice of instant divorce by pronouncing triple talaq among Muslims. The government was able to get the Parliamentary nod to criminalize the practice of triple talaq among the Muslims. The saffron outfit has been claiming that there has been an overwhelming support among the Muslim women for the law to criminalize the practice of triple talaq.

However, a section of the BJP leaders had earlier maintained that the moving with the UCC would be tricky, as there are several personal laws in the country, which deal with non-Muslim minorities also. But the UCC now appears to be being pushed into the national political narrative, as Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Telangana line up this year in abuild up to the 2024 general elections.

“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 doesn’t mean abolition of the differences…Most countries are moving towards recognition of differences, and mere existence of difference doesn’t mean discrimination, but is indicative of a robust democracy,” the 21^st Law Commission had stated in its report.