‘They want to provoke the community’: Assam Opp parties tear into bid to repeal Muslim Marriage Act

Badruddin Ajmal — head of the AIUDF, whose primary support base is Bengali-speaking Muslims in the state — told reporters on the sidelines of an event: “They want to provoke Muslims and polarise their votes, which Muslims will not allow…. This is the first step towards introducing UCC but it will bring the death of the BJP.”

His party’s general secretary Aminul Islam stated that the move is a violation of Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937 and of Constitutional provisions on religion.

“If they want to stop child marriage, there were other options that the government could have explored within the ambit of the law… Our party is also clear that we are against child marriage. But this is a political gimmick and election oriented. There has been no discussion or debate on this matter. It’s still not very clear to us on what basis this decision has been taken. For now, it appears that they will issue an ordinance but they will have to bring a Bill in the Assembly so then we have to discuss the matter there,” he said.

Assam Congress leader Debabrata Saikia argued that far from putting a stop to “illegal marriages”, repealing the act would result in more.

“No doubt, it is an old act enacted during British rule. However, India has diverse communities and cultures. With the repeal of this act, the system of qazis will be abolished. As a result, if illegal weddings take place, we will not know. Instead of eliminating illegal marriages, the abolition might encourage more illegal marriages. They have justified it saying there is no proper record system, etc. Instead of repealing, they could have improved this Act. And till UCC is introduced in India, we will have to follow some customary laws and traditions. Because otherwise there may be tension,” he said.

Lurinjyoti Gogoi, president of the Assam Jatiya Parishad & General Secretary of the United Opposition Forum also accused the state government of politicising a sensitive matter.

“The government should not make unilateral decisions on any issue involving social custom, religious beliefs, and public sentiments. The views of the scholars of the communities concerned need to be sought in these matters. We have seen the BJP government playing politics on the issue of Muslim marriage registration. With the input of community stakeholders, no one would probably object to unanimously taking a decision regarding the Muslim marriage act. However, instead of doing that, creating a political issue to provoke a community by teasing their sentiment is likely to cause social unrest. The government should refrain from attempting to create such unrest,” he said in a statement.