Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s announcement that all 21 NDA-ruled states will have a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) before the next Lok Sabha election should not come as a surprise. What is significant is not the announcement itself, but the route the BJP appears to have chosen. Uttarakhand became the first state to bring a UCC into force.
Gujarat, Assam, and several other BJP-ruled states have taken steps in the same direction. This suggests that the party does not necessarily expect, or even want, a single Central law.
A nationwide UCC through Parliament is easier announced than enacted. If it requires a constitutional amendment, the legislation would have to clear both Houses of Parliament and then secure the required support from state legislatures. Even without that hurdle, drafting a law acceptable to India’s extraordinary diversity would be a formidable task.
Tribal Areas Pose Challenges
The problem becomes particularly complicated in tribal areas. The Constitution provides safeguards for tribal communities whose customary laws and traditions are different from those prevailing elsewhere. A uniform law that ignores these protections could face both legal and political resistance.
The BJP has, perhaps, found a politically convenient alternative. Individual states can enact their own versions of a UCC, taking local circumstances into account. The pattern is not unlike the proliferation of anti-conversion laws.
A uniform Central law on religious conversion would be difficult to enact, so BJP-ruled states have introduced increasingly stringent laws of their own. It is also worth remembering that some elements of uniformity in civil life already exist.
Marriages have to be registered. So do births and deaths. Laws relating to dowry and women’s rights in property apply irrespective of religion. The real question is what additional uniformity is sought and whether it is necessary.
Goa’s Model Has Anomalies
Goa is often cited as an example of a UCC, but its system, inherited from the Portuguese rule, is hardly a model of absolute uniformity. It permits a Hindu man, under certain circumstances, to have a second wife if there is no child from the first marriage.
There are other complications. Hindu undivided families enjoy certain tax advantages that are not similarly available to followers of other religions. A truly uniform civil code would have to confront such anomalies as well.
The danger is that a complex question of law and social reform may be reduced to a political slogan. There is no certainty that every NDA-ruled state, including Bihar, will readily accept the idea in the same form.
Uniformity Must Not Divide
Uniformity in civil law can be a legitimate constitutional objective. But it must not become an instrument for political mobilisation or majoritarian assertion. A law affecting marriage, family, inheritance, and personal rights should unite citizens, not create another faultline in an already diverse society.
