"Can A Law Be Uniform If It Doesn’t Apply To Majority Of Your State?": Owaisi On Uttarakhand UCC Bill (image:.facebook.com/PartyAIMIM)
As Pushkar Singh Dhami-led Uttarakhand government tabled a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Bill in the state assembly on Tuesday, opposition leaders have expressed their disagreements against the bill. Asaduddin Owaisi, President of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and Hyderabad MP on Wednesday slammed the Uttarakhand UCC Bill and said it is “nothing but a Hindu Code applicable for all”.
In his X handle, AIMIM chief lists down his disagreements regarding the Bill. He states that the “Hindu undivided family” has not been touched by the Bill, “Can a law be uniform if it doesn’t apply to majority of your state?,” he asks.
1. The #UttarakhandUCCBill is nothing but a Hindu Code applicable for all. Firstly, hindu undivided family has not been touched. Why? If you want a uniform law for succession and inheritance, why are Hindus kept out of it? Can a law be uniform if it doesn’t apply to majority of…
— Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) February 7, 2024
He enquires that as bigamy, halala (short-term marriage to another man followed by a divorce), and live-in relationships became the topic of discussion, the UCC Bill excludes the “Hindu undivided family”. Similarly, tribals have also been excluded from the Bill; “Why have tribals been excluded? Can it be uniform if one community is exempt,” Asaduddin Owaisi asks.
Besides, the Bill forces Muslims to follow a different religion and culture, AIMIM chief said. “I have a right to practice my religion and culture, this Bill forces me to follow a different religion and culture. In our religion, inheritance and marriage are part of religious practice, it is a violation of Articles 25 & 29 to force us to follow a different system,” he added.
Referring the constitutional issue of the UCC, Owaisi said that the Bill can only be enacted by Parliament since it contradicts central laws like Shariah Act, Hindu Marriage Act, SMA (The Special Marriage Act), and ISA (The Indian Succession Act). “A voluntary UCC already exists in the form of SMA, ISA, JJA, DVA, etc. Why make it mandatory when Ambedkar himself didn’t call it mandatory?”, he enquires.
Attacking Pushkar Singh Dhami for presenting the Bill, Owaisi said: “Uttarakhand’s finances are in doldrums, so Dhami feels the need to table this.”
A common civil code for the state was one of the major poll promises put forward by the BJP in the 2022 Uttarakhand Assembly elections. Through its passage, Uttarakhand will be the first Indian state to adopt the UCC. Meanwhile, other BJP-rules states such as Gujarat and Assam extended their interest in adopting the Uttarakhand UCC model. The bill likely to be passed today after debates in the assembly.
