Explained | What is so contentious about India's Uniform Civil Code that aims to annul personal laws?

Earlier this week, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in one of his most vocal pitches, batted for the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and called out opposition parties for manipulating and misleading the minority communities against it. 

After PM Modi's speech, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), a non-governmental organisation that represents the interests of Muslims in matters of personal law, held an emergency meeting on the issue. According to reports, the Board is opposed to UCC and is contemplating a strategy to counter the proposed move. 

"Our stand is that UCC is against the spirit of the Constitution and we will oppose it strongly. India is a country where many religions and cultures are followed. So, the UCC is not only going to affect the Muslims but also the Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Jains, Jews, Parsis and other minuscule minorities," said one AIMPLB member. 

UCC is a comprehensive set of common laws for all religions governing personal matters like marriage, divorce, adoption, inheritance, custody, alimony and others. It aims at ensuring equality among all religions.

Although the complete form of UCC is under debate, a fair idea finds a mention in the Indian Constitution. Part IV of the Constitution deals with the Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP) which is not justiciable or enforceable before the courts of the country but plays a 'fundamental' role in the governance. Article 44 mentions the "state shall endeavour to secure a Uniform Civil Code for the citizens throughout the territory of India".

When Dr BR Ambedkar was drafting the Constitution, he believed that the UCC was needed but should remain voluntary for the moment. 

"No one need be apprehensive that if the State has the power, the State will immediately proceed to execute... that power, in a manner, may be found to be objectionable by the Muslims or by the Christians or by any other community. I think it would be a mad government if it did so," he said in his speech in the Constituent Assembly.

Ambedkar expressed his visible frustration towards the personal laws by asking members of the Constituent Assembly, "Why religion should be given expansive jurisdiction which is full of inequities, discriminations and other things, which conflict with fundamental rights."

More than anything, for the BJP, UCC remains an ideological promise that it has made to the country's electorate time and again to sweep the votes. During the canvassing trail for the 2019 General Elections, BJP promised in its manifesto that the party was committed to bringing UCC.  

The loyal, core vote bank of BJP, the middle-class Hindus have been demanding that UCC be implemented. However, despite being in power for over nine years, the Modi government has remained reluctant to take the decisive step, perhaps to not anger a significant portion of the minorities. But with the 2024 elections nearby, the government has once again stepped up its rhetoric on the issue.  

Notably, the BJP government in Uttarakhand had announced it will implement UCC soon after coming to power. As of the latest update by Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, UCC will be implemented soon after the final draft of the Code is submitted by the state government-appointed committee.

The Supreme Court of India has time and again nudged various governments to bring in the UCC, as it is a vociferous supporter of the same.

"There has been no attempt to frame a Uniform Civil Code applicable to all citizens of the country despite exhortations of this court in the case of Mohd Ahmed Khan vs Shah Bano and Sarla Mudgal and Others vs Union of India and Others," the apex court said in 2019. 

Similarly, in November 2021, the Allahabad High Court highlighted that the UCC is mandatory. The single-judge bench of Justice Suneet Kumar said that “a common civil code will help the cause of national integration by removing disparate loyalties to laws that have conflicting ideologies.”

One of the main arguments that make the implementation of UCC contentious is that it contradicts the constitutional freedom to practice the religion of choice which allows religious communities to follow their respective personal laws. 

Article 25 and Article 29 of the Constitution allow every religious group the right to manage its own affairs and the right to conserve its distinct culture, respectively. Muslim organisations, including AIMPLB, fear that once UCC is implemented, the common identity of Muslims will be snatched away. 

Moreover, some fear that UCC will impose a Hinduised code for all communities. Despite the provisions nowhere near being drafted, some believe that personal issues like marriage, in line with Hindu customs will be legally enforced on other communities.