Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami recently set up a committee to prepare a draft Uniform Civil Code (UCC) for the State. Several leaders of BJP-ruled States have batted for a UCC in India. Though implementation of a UCC has been a key agenda of the BJP and has found a mention in the last two manifestos, the party’s regional leaders have been more vocal in championing this cause than its national leaders. One wonders whether the BJP is employing a bottom-up strategy to accomplish its long-standing ideological goal, by urging a few States to pass their respective UCCs so that it can use these for its national campaign for one.
Opposition to UCC
Muslim groups, particularly the Ulema, have been opposed to the idea of a UCC for a long time. The Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, led by Mahmood Asad Madani, recently passed a resolution against a UCC at a meeting in Deoband which was attended by over 2,500 of its members. The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has been consistently opposing a UCC because it fears that such a code will undermine Muslim identity. Indeed, it owes its existence to this fear. The AIMPLB was set up in 1973 at the initiative of Muhammad Taiyab, who was then Muhtamim of the Deoband madrasa. When H.R. Gokhale, as Law Minister, tabled an Adoption Bill in Parliament, which was not consistent with Muslim religious laws on guardianship, Muslim clergies were anxious. They saw the Bill as a precursor to a UCC. A small meeting took place in Deoband followed by a larger congregation in Mumbai on December 27-28, 1972. The AIMPLB was born four months later. The fear of a UCC and the preservation of Muslim personal law were the reasons for the formation of the AIMLAB. Over the years, the body began to champion diverse Muslim issues such as protection of disputed Islamic religious structures.
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