Omkar Dattatray
Democracy is by far considered a good form of government but whether it is good or bad is a matter of thinking. Democracy is the government of the people by majority and the majority of the people of India want to be governed by Uniform Civil Code (UCC), but there is unnecessary hue and cry about making of the legislation in this regard. It is an irony that India has failed to legislate on the subject of Uniform Civil Code for all citizens of India for the last 75 years of independence. The fact is that a law should have been made much earlier but as they say better late than never if the BJP government says that a law should now be made to enforce common code for all citizens, there is no wrong in it. Uniform civil code has remained on the agenda of the BJP since the formation of the party and in fact its predecessor the Bharatiya Jana Sangh also had the UCC as its priority item. UCC has been in the manifesto of all elections from 1984 but it could not see the light of the day and now when the Law commission has invited and solicited the suggestion in regard to having a legislation over common civil code much undue noise has been created by the so called parties including congress, SP, BSP, JDU, RJD, CPIM, AIMIM and by some Muslim organizations and leaders which is without any base but motivated by minority appeasement.
The secular parties and Muslim organizations are making a mountain out of the mole hill over the UCC only for narrow religious considerations. Under the vote bank politics and for minority appeasement the so called secular parties are criticizing and opposing any move to legislate or promulgate on the important subject of uniform civil code. Some radical, conservative and orthodox Muslim leaders oppose UCC for the sake of opposition and without any sound basis.
UCC is the need of the hour and the time is ripe and opportune for having a law about common civil code for all citizens irrespective of religion. Even Muslim women too are in favour of UCC as they want freedom from male domination. When nation is one and when all citizens are equal and then there is no valid and sound ground for having different personal laws regarding marriage, inheritance, adoption, divorce and the like and thus all citizens should be governed by the common law and it is needed most for enforcing national integration and national unity and the different personal laws are creating divisions among different religious groups.
UCC is very much lawful and constitutional as the article 44 of the constitution which is related with Directive Principles of State Policy gives a direction to the executive to make efforts to have a common code for all citizens in the country ,but alas till date no worthwhile efforts were made to translate this direction of the constitution into practice. Pt J.L Nehru the first Prime Minister of India and the big Congress leader wanted to have a common code for all Indians but the modern day congress leaders have myopic view and oppose the move to have a common civil code for all citizens.
Even the founding father of the Indian constitution Dr B.R Ambedkar also was in favor of having a common civil code for all Indians as he thought that it was necessary for national integration and cohesion, but it is very disturbing and unfortunate that on this important issue of public importance there is much politics in the country perhaps for vote bank consideration. Goa is the only state in India which has a common civil code and now BJP government of Uttrakhand has prepared a well thought about draft about the common code and it will legislate and enforce common code for its subjects.
It seems that centre government will take a cue from Uttarakhand and will adopt the Uttarakhand draft and will apply it with some modifications. Since the general elections are going to be held in the early months of 2024 and the BJP wants to leave nothing to chance and want to again capture power and so the NDA government is going to take a very big decision so that it can win the support of the people in the Lok Sabha polls and so it seems to have made up the mind to legislate on this important subject and it wants to give the nation a common civil code before general elections of 2024 so that it can exploit the situation and win in the crucial general election.
BJP government wants to legislate and implement the common code for all Indians before the general elections .There should be no reservation about this important issue and it should not be politicized .However unfortunately the common civil code is much politicized by the so called secular parties as enough undue dust ,din and noise is created every time effort is made to have a common code for all citizens .The opposition parties should cooperate with the government when it takes effort to promulgate and implement a common civil code and shun to politicize this important issue .
When all citizens are equal in the eyes of law and constitution so why this glaring distinction that different communities are governed by their personal laws and this is illegal ,unconstitutional and arbitrary and therefore serious efforts should be made to legislate on this important subject of common code for all Indians before it is too late .
The NDA government headed by the BJP should take required steps to frame a common civil code for all citizens so that all are governed by the same common civil law.BJP government has fulfilled its commitment so far as the Ram Temple issue is concerned ,it has also abrogated the controversial article 370 of the constitution which was on its agenda and it has also enacted law to eliminate the triple tlaq for Muslim women and now it should go ahead with the decision to enact the common civil code for all Indians.
Prime minister Narendra Modi is a bold leader and he also has got the strong mandate and therefore the time has come for taking a bold decision and enact and implement common civil code for all citizens .
It seems that Modi is trying to fulfill the three promises of its RSS God Fathers and he doing to give a practical shape to his agenda and is now on the job of legislating on a common code in civil matters for all India’s irrespective of their religion. When all the citizens are covered and governed by the same criminal laws, then why is there so much hue and cry over the implementation of a common code .
All the political parties should cooperate with the government for having a civil common code for all citizens irrespective of their religion. In brief there should be no politicking on this important issue and the nation should be given a common civil code at the earliest and in this lays the good of the country and its citizens.
(The author is a columnist, social and KP activist).
