A law commission set up by the BJP-led NDA government submitted its report to the Union saying that Uniform Civil Code is ‘neither necessary nor desirable’ suggesting that amendments can be made in the personal laws of religion so that no one becomes victim of an orthodox practice.
In 1947, after the partition, while Pakistan chose to be a theological state, India, on the other hand chose to go a secular way to accommodate all citizens of the country irrespective of their religion, caste, sect and creed. Thus, Uniform Civil Code was proposed by the intelligentsia and many leaders of the nation.
However, while some parliamentarians favored the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code; many other significant members opposed it on the ground that India would never be the same again if it tried to bring in the Uniform Civil Code and interfere with the Muslim Personal laws.
Thereby, Article 44 was included in the Directive Principles of State Policy in the Constitution of India, which states that the ‘State shall endeavour to provide for its citizens a uniform civil code (UCC) throughout the territory of India’.
However, no political party as of yet implemented the Uniform Civil Code as it can cost them the vote-bank of some communities and can also risk communal violence. India is still a deeply religious society and a large section of people see the code as an intrusion to the freedom of practicing their religion. However, those in favour of the code argue that the Uniform Code, if implemented will bring homogeneity among the various personal laws.
There is a need for an analysis as to the whether the uniform civil code can be introduced in India or not. It is also debatable whether the code would be accepted unanimously by the communities presently existing in India or not.
The infamous Shah Bano case of 1984 in which the then government overturned a Supreme Court verdict to appease a community leaving a poor, helpless woman with no aid, highlighted how badly the nation is in need of the Uniform Civil Code.
Uniform Civil Code’s fundamental aim is to provide an equal status to all citizens and promote gender parity. Although, it won’t be wrong to say that in India, due to political interferences and religious diversity it is quite difficult to implement this code at the ground level, as the matter is related to the sentiments of the people.
As for now, the government is trying to introduce the amendments to help achieve the goal of the Uniform Civil Code. The political support from the opposition is also a need for the hour so that the issue of the exploitation of Muslim women can be solved through the code. The case of Uniform Civil Code must be seen beyond the horizons of political benefits and vote banks.
Dr B.R. Ambedkar had said that a Uniform Civil Code is desirable but for the moment should remain voluntary, little he knew that India will remain in the same state even after 71 years of independence.
