Delhi High Court favouring Uniform civil Code; Unwanted, unacceptable : Popular Front

New Delhi: Popular Front of India chairman O M A Salam has termed the Delhi High Court asking the Centre to take necessary steps regarding a Uniform Civil Court (UCC) as out of context, unwanted and unacceptable.

Uniform Civil Code has for long generated much political debate as a matter related to minority rights, especially their right to enjoy separate personal laws.  Though the Supreme Court has examined the issue many times and made different observations, a conclusive decision for implementing UCC has not been taken. Earlier this year, the apex court sought a reply from the Centre over religion-neutral inheritance and succession laws in India and the issue is also pending decision.

While different political parties excluding BJP did not favour eradication of personal laws paving way for UCC, even the BJP governments of the past could not act upon the same. For BJP and their partners in Hindutva politics, this issue is always a convenient tool to gather majority votes by creating communal polarisation. Whenever BJP foresee an imminent electoral loss, it is part of their strategy to dig out normally laying-buried polarisation tools like ‘need’ for Uniform Civil Law and ‘danger’ of Muslim Personal Law. On the eve of UP elections that are crucial to BJP, they are badly in need of it again to cover up failures of the Modi and Yogi governments.

UCC essentially refers to a common set of laws governing personal matters such as marriage, divorce, adoption, inheritance and succession for all citizens of the country, irrespective of religion. Currently, different laws regulate these aspects for adherents of different religions and a UCC is meant to do away with these personal laws.

The Delhi High Court noted that the modern Indian society is gradually becoming ‘homogeneous’, dissipating ‘traditional barriers’ of religion, community, and caste, and in view of these changing paradigms, a uniform civil code is in order. This reasoning can only be viewed absurd as the present power dispensation is making modern India more than ‘heterogenous’, a nation deeply and deadly divided on religion-community-caste lines.

O M A Salam stated that the court observations are of a casual nature and out of context, as the issue came before Justice Prathiba M Singh was the applicability of the Hindu Marriage Act 1955, in respect of parties belonging to Meena community.