New Delhi: Two days after the Law Commission of India called for fresh suggestions from public and religious organisations on the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), the issue has sparked controversy yet again.
Speaking to ETV Bharat, former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) SY Quraishi said, "The 21st Law Commission had reviewed the subject on UCC and had solicited the views of all the stakeholders through its appeal, along with a questionnaire in 2016 and further public notices in 2018. After a detailed analysis and two years of hard work, Justice BS Chauhan in 2018, who was appointed by this government, came to the conclusion that this is neither necessary nor desirable."
"What I feel is that in principle UCC is a good idea, even the constituent assembly said that this is desirable. People are seeing this issue from the Hindu-Muslim angle, which is not the case. The main issue is that of codification of personal laws so that discriminatory practices could be erased, especially against women. But the timing of this issue is interesting since the elections are not, too, far."
Also read: Uniform Civil Code draft will be ready by June 30, says Uttarakhand CM Dhami
He further said, "Let's not assume that this is wrong. Muslims should not oppose this since it's an evolving development. Let the government first come up with a draft, only then we'll be able to say whether it is good or bad." Ever since the Modi government came to power in 2014, issues like the abrogation of Article 370, Ram Mandir and UCC were at the top of their election manifesto and the first two things have already been done.
Similarly, Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind President Maulana Arshad Madani while responding to a question on his views on this development and whether he would support the UCC, he staunchly replied, "This is a political gamble played by this government just ahead of the Assembly and the Lok Sabha elections. This has been done just to split the Hindu-Muslim vote in order to gain an upper hand in the electoral domain."
"We (Muslims) are living here for the last 1400 years and we have our own personal laws. Just like other faiths, we follow and respect our own personal laws. Nobody has told us to change that. We are totally against the UCC and will continue to mark our protest," he said.
On the communal disharmony in Uttrakhand, he said, "Wherever there is BJP, hate speeches would be uttered against the Muslim community. They just want to target the Muslims for their own electoral benefit but we would continue to oppose them."
