When Prime Minister Narendra Modi was addressing the country from the ramparts of the Red Fort on August 15, he spoke very strongly on the Uniform Civil Code (UCC). After his speech, a serious discussion has started on this topic in the country. PM Modi took a strong jibe at the opposition by referring to the Secular Civil Code. Let us tell you that the BJP has always advocated for the UCC and includes it in its manifesto in almost every election.
In 1985, when the Supreme Court ruled that Shah Bano, a divorced Muslim woman with five children, had to be paid Rs 179 per month by her former husband as alimony even after the three-month (iddat) period under Sharia law, protests began among conservative Muslim sections. The then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, using his parliamentary majority, overturned the decision by passing the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986. It said that Section 125 of the CrPC (dealing with maintenance of women) did not apply to Muslim women.
The Indian Express, in a report, has quoted BJP veteran LK Advani’s autobiography “My Country My Life” and said that he has discussed this matter in detail. The book uses the term UCC for the first time in the context of the Shah Bano controversy. Rajiv Gandhi had asked him what should be done before the law was passed. To this Advani replied that nothing needed to be done, as it was a solid decision of the Supreme Court.
In his speech as BJP president at the party’s national council meeting in Delhi in May 1986, Advani criticised the reversal of the Shah Bano verdict. He said, “One good result of this year-long debate on the Shah Bano verdict is that it has created a deeper awareness in the country about Article 44 of the Constitution (UCC). There is an urgent need to reform Muslim personal law.”
Speaking at a function in Pune to commemorate VD Savarkar, Atal Bihari Vajpayee also criticised the Rajiv government’s decision. He reminded that Savarkar did not discriminate between women. Congress has made religious discrimination between women to please the powerful sections of the Muslim society.
The UCC soon became part of the BJP’s emerging core agenda, along with the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya and the repeal of Article 370, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
When the NDA came to power under Vajpayee from 1998 to 2004, the BJP shelved its core agenda, fearing alienation of allies with Muslim support. From the late 1980s, it became a Hindutva demand and was seen in non-BJP circles as a ploy to harass the minority community.
During the first two terms of the Modi government, the Ram temple was built in Ayodhya and Article 370 was also abolished. Uniform Civil Code is the last unfinished ideological agenda of the BJP at the moment. PM Modi gave a clear indication in his Independence Day speech that he would consider implementing it. However, he chose to present it as a “secular civil code”. It is being said that he has taken this step to push the opposition on the backfoot.
The BJP had revived the demand for UCC after the Supreme Court struck down instant triple talaq in 2017. The BJP-led Uttarakhand government has already enacted a law to implement the UCC. Some other states ruled by the party are expected to follow suit. The BJP-led Central Government 3.0 is critically dependent on NDA allies like the TDP and the JD(U). It will now be interesting to see how the government deals with the issue.