The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) held one of its first meetings to discuss the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) on Tuesday evening, even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi pushed for UCC while addressing BJP booth-level workers in Madhya Pradesh where elections are due later this year. Denying that there is a connection between the meeting and the PM’s speech, members said that the meeting had been scheduled earlier as the AIMPLB gears up to formulate a response to the Law Commission’s public notice seeking public feedback on the matter. “This meeting had already been scheduled. The PM’s speech just happened to take place on the same day. We will be submitting our feedback to the Law Commission in the first week of July,” said AIMPLB executive committee member Dr Qasim Rasool. In Tuesday’s meeting, members of the AIMPLB discussed the outline of their response and the main issues that they would touch upon. “We have already once before presented our feedback to the Law Commission in 2016, and the Commission had responded in 2018 and said that at least for 10 years, UCC should not be implemented. What we feel is that the latest public notice is nothing but a political stunt by the present government to create a situation which they will encash ahead of the 2024 parliamentary elections. The manner in which the Law Commission has asked for feedback this time has also been ambiguous. In 2016, the Law Commission had asked specific questions, to which we had responded,” said Rasool. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzKjRazavVk&ab_channel=TheIndianExpress Prime Minister Modi had said on Tuesday that the Opposition has been trying to “instigate” minorities on the issue of UCC. “Tell me, in one house, there is one law for one family member and another for another family member, can that house function?” Modi said on Tuesday, adding that the Constitution also speaks of the UCC. The Prime Minister further said that it is the Pasmanda (backward) Muslims who are particularly affected adversely in the absence of such a law. Over the past few years, the BJP has run a sustained campaign to woo Pasmanda Muslims in the country. “The PM has called for ‘one nation, one law’. But may we point out that such a system of one law for the country does not exist in India. Even the implementation of the IPC and CRPC differs from state to state. There is no uniform law on cow slaughter in the country. It is implemented in some states, while others – such as the northeastern states, Goa, Bengal etc – don’t even have such a law,” said Rasool, reacting to the PM’s speech. Rasool adds that the BJP has made the UCC an electoral issue in Madhya Pradesh, whereas discussions on the law, a sensitive matter, should first be restricted to consultations with stakeholders and all communities it affects. “The UCC is neither necessary nor does it benefit our country in any way. India is a multi-religious, multicultural nation which must respect its diversity. The Constitution enshrines religious freedom as a fundamental right and the UCC interferes with this right as Muslim personal law is a part and parcel of our religious freedom. This is not only about Muslims but all other communities including Hindus, Sikhs, Christians etc, who will be impacted by this law and will therefore oppose it. In any case, UCC in a manner already exists in the country in the form of the Special Marriage Act, the Inheritance Act etc – only these are optional,” added Rasool.
