7th November 2018
Musings.......
Uniform Civil Code is an idea where personal laws based on ancient scriptures and customs of each religious community in India will be replaced with a common set of rules governing every citizen.
The framers of our constitution, the Constituent Assembly had contemplated making UCC a law. Leaders including Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who himself was an atheist was for implementing such a law. However, consultations made it clear that in a new Democracy like India, it was imperative to protect the interest of minorities, and hence such a law was deferred.
Framers of our constitution included the UCC as Directive Principle of State Policy, under Article 44 where such a law will be implemented once our society is mature enough to inculcate and accept such a policy.
Very little has changed in our society since Independence. In fact, the polity has become more fractured and divided on sectarian lines. The growth of extremist elements in every religious community has led to large scale Polarisation of our society.
So instead of our society maturing, it has in fact become more fractured and divided on religious lines.
Last week we saw the unveiling of the Statue of Unity - the tallest statue in the world- of Sardar Vallabhai Patel, freedom fighter, congressman and the first Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of our Country. The statue costing more than ₹ 3000 crores of rupees stands at 182meters at the banks of Narmada River in Kevadia, Gujarat. The irony that a Right wing government unveils a statue of a devout Congressman, one who banned this governments parent organisation, the RSS is for everyone to see.
When this Government tries to shield its divisive politics by a Statue of Unity, I am compelled to say that such gimmicks may work among his supporters and RSS, however the general public will seperate the grain from chaff.
India has shamed itself internationally by unveiling a Statue of Unity at the most divisive of times.
Personal laws are distinguished from public law and cover marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption and maintainence. Goa has a common family law thus being the only Indian state to have a uniform civil code. The Special Marriage Act 1954, permits any citizen to have a civil marriage outside the realm of any specific religious personal law.
The demand for a uniform civil code was first put forward by women activists in the early twentieth century with the objective of women's rights, equality and secularism. In 1956, Parliament passed the Hindu Code Bill.
The debate for a UCC dates back to colonial British Raj times. The East India Company had tried to create religious reforms. Lord William Bentinck, the Governor General tried to suppress Sati, through legislation in Bengali which was later extended to whole of English territories in India.
The Lex Loci report of 1840 recommended codification of Indian law, however said religious laws to be kept outside the codification. The British hence followed the policy of absolute non-interference in religious matters. There was great variation in personal laws between religions, even among religions. For example , Shudras allowed widow remarriage completely contrary to Hindu scripture law.
Muslims in India were governed by Muslim personal law, which remains unreformed since 1937, permitting unilateral divorce, polygamy hence, making India one of the countries practicing Sharia Law.
This issue remained dormant for long until the 1985 Shah Bano case. Bano was a 73 year old women seeking maintainence from her husband who divorced her through Talaq which was permissible under Sharia Law. She was initially granted maintained by lower court on which her husband went to Supreme Court, himself being a lawyer.
The SC ruled in favour of maintainence citing All India Criminal Code Section 125 which was applicable to all citizens.
This led to widespread protest all over India by minorities especially Muslims, who felt their culture to be threatened. According to them Judiciary recommending UCC was evidence of imposition of Hindu values over every Indian.
The Muslim Women's ( Protection of Rights on Divorce ) was passed in 1986, which made CRPC Section 125 not applicable to Muslim women.
The debate over UCC hence became one of the most contentious issues of the twenty first century India, threatening even the secularism of our country. What we saw was a division between Secular Congress and Muslim groups on one side and the Extreme Right wing groups and the Left on the other.
Demanding a UCC can be seen negatively by religious groups because of Identity politics. Hence the issue of UCC is not a new one.
Since 2014, BJP led Right wing government is in power. Since the outset of this government there was talks of implementing UCC.
In our present political situation, implementing UCC would lead to further division of an already precariously divided society. As our First PM Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru said, UCC should be implemented when the society unanimously is ready to accept it.
Steps taken by our Central Government is suspicious and indicates their real intentions. Firstly after coming to power, they banned Triple Talaq through an Ordinance. Their stand in the Sabarimala temple issue may might as well extend to women entry concerning Sunni Muslims in Mosques. Ultimately they aim to divide the society on Hindu-Muslim lines, influence voting pattern and wear the mask of protectors of Hindus in our country, thereby retaining power in elections.
Such dubious, divisive, steps are not good for a secular society and can lead to religious prosecution of Minorities. Hence, it is for everyone's benefit that well meaning citizens of our country stop such dangerous moves, if we want to live in "Rama Rajya" where everyone is equal and live in harmony and prosperity. History will not judge us properly if we let the opportunity pass - the nearest being the next General Election 2019.
Food for Thought.......
RC
Uniform Civil Code is an idea where personal laws based on ancient scriptures and customs of each religious community in India will be replaced with a common set of rules governing every citizen.
The framers of our constitution, the Constituent Assembly had contemplated making UCC a law. Leaders including Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who himself was an atheist was for implementing such a law. However, consultations made it clear that in a new Democracy like India, it was imperative to protect the interest of minorities, and hence such a law was deferred.
Framers of our constitution included the UCC as Directive Principle of State Policy, under Article 44 where such a law will be implemented once our society is mature enough to inculcate and accept such a policy.
Very little has changed in our society since Independence. In fact, the polity has become more fractured and divided on sectarian lines. The growth of extremist elements in every religious community has led to large scale Polarisation of our society.
So instead of our society maturing, it has in fact become more fractured and divided on religious lines.
Last week we saw the unveiling of the Statue of Unity - the tallest statue in the world- of Sardar Vallabhai Patel, freedom fighter, congressman and the first Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of our Country. The statue costing more than ₹ 3000 crores of rupees stands at 182meters at the banks of Narmada River in Kevadia, Gujarat. The irony that a Right wing government unveils a statue of a devout Congressman, one who banned this governments parent organisation, the RSS is for everyone to see.
When this Government tries to shield its divisive politics by a Statue of Unity, I am compelled to say that such gimmicks may work among his supporters and RSS, however the general public will seperate the grain from chaff.
India has shamed itself internationally by unveiling a Statue of Unity at the most divisive of times.
Personal laws are distinguished from public law and cover marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption and maintainence. Goa has a common family law thus being the only Indian state to have a uniform civil code. The Special Marriage Act 1954, permits any citizen to have a civil marriage outside the realm of any specific religious personal law.
The demand for a uniform civil code was first put forward by women activists in the early twentieth century with the objective of women's rights, equality and secularism. In 1956, Parliament passed the Hindu Code Bill.
The debate for a UCC dates back to colonial British Raj times. The East India Company had tried to create religious reforms. Lord William Bentinck, the Governor General tried to suppress Sati, through legislation in Bengali which was later extended to whole of English territories in India.
The Lex Loci report of 1840 recommended codification of Indian law, however said religious laws to be kept outside the codification. The British hence followed the policy of absolute non-interference in religious matters. There was great variation in personal laws between religions, even among religions. For example , Shudras allowed widow remarriage completely contrary to Hindu scripture law.
Muslims in India were governed by Muslim personal law, which remains unreformed since 1937, permitting unilateral divorce, polygamy hence, making India one of the countries practicing Sharia Law.
This issue remained dormant for long until the 1985 Shah Bano case. Bano was a 73 year old women seeking maintainence from her husband who divorced her through Talaq which was permissible under Sharia Law. She was initially granted maintained by lower court on which her husband went to Supreme Court, himself being a lawyer.
The SC ruled in favour of maintainence citing All India Criminal Code Section 125 which was applicable to all citizens.
This led to widespread protest all over India by minorities especially Muslims, who felt their culture to be threatened. According to them Judiciary recommending UCC was evidence of imposition of Hindu values over every Indian.
The Muslim Women's ( Protection of Rights on Divorce ) was passed in 1986, which made CRPC Section 125 not applicable to Muslim women.
The debate over UCC hence became one of the most contentious issues of the twenty first century India, threatening even the secularism of our country. What we saw was a division between Secular Congress and Muslim groups on one side and the Extreme Right wing groups and the Left on the other.
Demanding a UCC can be seen negatively by religious groups because of Identity politics. Hence the issue of UCC is not a new one.
Since 2014, BJP led Right wing government is in power. Since the outset of this government there was talks of implementing UCC.
In our present political situation, implementing UCC would lead to further division of an already precariously divided society. As our First PM Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru said, UCC should be implemented when the society unanimously is ready to accept it.
Steps taken by our Central Government is suspicious and indicates their real intentions. Firstly after coming to power, they banned Triple Talaq through an Ordinance. Their stand in the Sabarimala temple issue may might as well extend to women entry concerning Sunni Muslims in Mosques. Ultimately they aim to divide the society on Hindu-Muslim lines, influence voting pattern and wear the mask of protectors of Hindus in our country, thereby retaining power in elections.
Such dubious, divisive, steps are not good for a secular society and can lead to religious prosecution of Minorities. Hence, it is for everyone's benefit that well meaning citizens of our country stop such dangerous moves, if we want to live in "Rama Rajya" where everyone is equal and live in harmony and prosperity. History will not judge us properly if we let the opportunity pass - the nearest being the next General Election 2019.
Food for Thought.......
RC
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