The Politics Of A Uniform Civil Code

The BJP stirs the political pot by raising the prospect of a divisive legal reform as polls approach, sparking debate and some apprehension

- KAUSHIK DEKA 

On June 14, the 22nd Law Commission of India, headed by Ritu Raj Awasthi, a former chief justice of the Karnataka High Court, issued a notification eliciting the opinions of various stakeholders, including public and religious organisations, on a uniform civil code (UCC) for the country. The UCC is a proposal to formulate and implement a single set of civil laws to govern marriage, divorce, inheritance and adoption for every Indian, irrespective of caste, religion or sexual orientation, replacing the existing religion-based personal laws. The notification came as a surprise as only five years ago, the 21st Law Commission had concluded that a UCC was "neither necessary nor desirable at this stage" for the country.

A fortnight later, on June 27, the political storm gathered force when Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing party workers in Bhopal, made a strong pitch for the UCC. "Imagine there's one law for one member of the family, and another for another in the same house," he said. "Can such a house run?" He was echoing what the government had said in its affidavit in the Supreme Court in October 2022: "Citizens belonging to different religions and denominations following different property and matrimonial laws is an affront to the nation's unity." The electoral motivation of the PM's current political push is not lost on anyone.