"Our Expert Committee Will See Aligning of UCC and Polygamy Ban Bill," Assam CM

The Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and the Polygamy Ban Bill are being aligned, said Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who also mentioned that this was recommended at the most recent cabinet meeting.

Guwahati (Assam): Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday said that the state government is working on aligning the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and Polygamy Ban Bill, adding that the last cabinet meeting has also suggested this. "The Assam cabinet has discussed both the UCC and Polygamy ban bill. But we were following the polygamy ban bill. Uttarakhand has passed the UCC and we are working on aligning both so we can prepare robust legislation and we are working on that," CM Sarma said.

"Meanwhile Assam cabinet has passed a very important legislation in the last cabinet prohibiting healing. We are going to table this bill because we believe that the religious status quo is very important. Whoever is the Muslim let them be a Muslim, whoever be Christian let them be Christian, whoever be Hindu let them be Hindu. So that a proper balance can be achieved in our state. So we want to curb evangelism in Assam. In that direction the banning of healing act which has passed in the last cabinet will be a very important milestone," CM Sarma said.

He also said - "Our expert committee will see aligning of the UCC and Polygamy ban bill." "Assam was working on polygamy. The UCC has become a new thing. The UCC is only banning polygamy making it a civil offence. But we were thinking of making polygamy a criminal offence. The country needs a uniform policy and we are going to align this. For that, I had a round of discussions with the central leadership also that in which direction we should go. I will have to sit with the expert committee. Yesterday cabinet said that we have to align these two. These are long-term reforms. My expert committee will sit again. If the report is ready we will do this in this session, otherwise in the next session," the Assam Chief Minister said.

He also said that child marriage has now stopped in 70 per cent of areas in the state. Talking about the new scheme Punya Tirth Yojana - Ayodhya Pilgrimage announced in the state Budget 2024-25, the Assam Chief Minister said that the state will send 25,000 pilgrims to Ayodhya in the 2024-25 financial year.