About eight months after the SC sought the Modi government’s view on whether it proposed to make any moves in the direction of having a uniform civil code (UCC), the government has asked the Law Commission of India to present a report on the issue. With the crucial Uttar Pradesh Assembly election looming large, the communal angle has been underlined by some since the BJP and its precursor, the Jana Sangh, were always insistent on opening up the Muslim personal law space under the guise of common laws for all. But there is some hypocrisy here.
Social and political groups inclined toward the play of Hindu religion in today’s politics, and Hindu traditionalists, had strongly resisted the Hindu Code Bill (enshrining many aspects of UCC) which sought to give Hindu women a fair and equal deal. President Rajendra Prasad was opposed while Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was a strong proponent, as was law minister B.R. Ambedkar. The ruling Congress was divided. Eventually only a diluted version could be passed in Parliament.
Seeing this state of affairs, the Nehru government, in spite of energetic pro-Hindu women recommendations of the B.N. Rau Committee coming down from before 1947, could do little more than put UCC in the Directive Principles of State Policy chapter of the Constitution, which contains some pie-in-the-sky goals — such as making all people equal and the like, although the then PM was a UCC votary as he was moved by the condition of women in society.
In today’s context the social battles in the UCC context concern Muslim personal laws in the light of discussions on obnoxious notions like the “triple talaq” and several other practices that put down women. Hindu communalists are delighted to point a finger at Muslims. While opposing them, liberal and Left opinion strongly values gender parity and laws to raise women’s status. Many leading gender conscious voices among Muslims want this goal attained, but not within the UCC as this has become tainted by association with Hindu communalists.
We certainly need a wider debate if we are to maintain the logic of secular politics in a very diverse land, rather than incline toward pandering to perceived religious sentiments and associated politics. There should also be recognition that many aspects of Muslim personal law are indeed progressive and equality-oriented. Perhaps the aim for now could be something parallel to the Hindu Code Bill for Muslim women (although Hindu women still labour under inequalities) with the support not just of Muslim women but other enlightened elements, while also looking to block adherence to the backward customs and practices of all communities across the territory of India.
