Support a gender-just, religion-neutral UCC

Given the clamour of voices for and against bringing in a Uniform Civil Code UCC that UCC acronym can very well stand for Undoubtedly Contentious and Controversial Differing from several Muslim bodies that have slammed the UCC the Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy IMSD is rooting for the CodeIn a recent statement the IMSD said ldquoWe support a religionneutral genderjust UCC In secular India the Ulema continue to cling to medieval patriarchal notions of gender relations in the name of Islam Contrary to their false claims Muslim Personal Law is not Godgiven but manmaderdquo The IMSD also pointed out in an excerpt from its public statement on UCC that ldquomillions of Muslims live in western democracies where there are no separate family laws for the communityrdquoA questionanswer with IMSD convenors Javed Anand and Feroze MithiborwalaYour statement espousing support for UCC also cautions do not fall into the trap by the BJP What does that mean Isnt the BJP for a UCCOn the face of it IMSD and the BJP are talking of the same thing UCC The fact remains that IMSDrsquos position is based on principles while the BJPrsquos stance is rooted in Hindutvarsquos politics The Ulema have never taken a step in reforming the blatantly unjust and antiwomen Muslim Personal Law since Independence Given this progressive Muslims turn to the courts and government of the day for a religionneutral genderjust lawThe BJP and Sangh Parivar rake up the UCC issue on the eve of elections with an obvious political motive To date they have no draft to offer to inform the public on what to expect from their UCC Each time the myopic ulema vehemently oppose the idea and the BJPrsquos purpose is served It helps their propaganda machinery float the idea that Muslims donrsquot believe in the law of the land and that all secular parties are guilty of ldquoMuslim appeasementrdquo That is why we are appealing to secular parties not to fall into this familiar BJP trapThe UCC is staunchly opposed by many Muslim bodies Who should be part of the UCC discussionsYes Many Muslim bodies have staunchly opposed the UCC proposal A bonafide endeavour towards UCC must mean encouragement of nationwide discussion and deliberation aimed at evolving a national consensus and not imposing the codes of any one religion culture tradition on all others All stakeholders must be equally engaged in this exercise One thing is clear IMSD is not talking of a referendum or opinion poll That is not how changes were brought about in Hindu or Christian personal laws That is not how the Supreme Court outlawed triple talaq either Constitutional principles must prevailThe UCC will be the most contentious Do you think it will be pushed before the general election in 2024It depends on the political calculations of the BJP and its Sangh Parivar For the 22nd Law Commission to produce a coherent draft assuming it does propose a UCC here and now will take time What the BJP seems to have already achieved may well be sufficient for its purposes in the runup to the coming state and national polls Muslim bodies have promptly spoken out against the UCC and opposition parties too have questioned the BJPrsquos motive This is enough for it to go to town to claim Muslim ldquorefusal to changerdquo and the opposition parties alleged practice of ldquoMuslim appeasementrdquoThere is suspicion about the BJP Yet the party does pick up the burning coal unafraid not to appease a large part of the Muslim vote blocSince the late 1990s the BJP has established that it does not need Muslim votes to ride to power The personal laws of all religious communities that we inherited at independence were grossly discriminatory against women In the decades since there have been a number of enactments ushering in some reforms in the family laws concerning Hindus and Christians But Muslim religious bodies have staunchly resisted any changeGiven this failure of the ulema and secular parties the communal BJP has opportunistically hijacked what belongs to a secular agenda The party and the Prime Minister who shed crocodile tears for Muslim behenbeti remain silent even in the face of open calls for the economic boycott of Muslims Not surprisingly the BJPrsquos motives remain suspect in the eyes of most Muslims as also all secular individuals and organisations