New Delhi: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday (October 29, 2022) reacted to the Gujarat government's announcement to form a panel to implement the Uniform Civil Code and said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was raising the issue of UCC to get votes in the upcoming Assembly elections in the state. Addressing an election rally at Vadgam in Gujarat's Banaskantha district, the Hyderabad MP said the Union government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had told the Supreme Court that enacting the UCC was the Centre's purview and not that of the states. He asked if the "exclusion" of Muslims and Christians from income tax benefits for Hindu Undivided Family wasn't against the principle of equality.
"Isn't it true that Babasaheb Ambedkar said that Uniform Civil Code should be voluntary and not mandatory?... But the BJP only wants to move ahead with its Hindutva agenda and it has the habit of raising such issues before elections to get votes," he alleged.
A law commission had in 2018 said that the UCC was neither necessary nor desirable, he said.
"For a Muslim, marriage is a contract, for a Hindu, it is living forever after, for a Christian, it is 'I do'. This is India's pluralism which has been made possible through Articles 25, 26, 14, 19 and 20 (of the Constitution). Can anyone make a law against Article 29 (which protects the interests of minority groups) by enacting the UCC?" Owaisi asked.
"I would like to ask the prime minister why Muslims and Christians are excluded from the benefit of income tax rebate under Hindu Undivided Family? Isn't it against the right to equality?" the AIMIM chief asked.
LIVE: Barrister @asadowaisi addressing a public meeting in Vadgam, Gujarat. #OwaisiInGujarat https://t.co/bTCtyVAh96
— AIMIM (@aimim_national) October 29, 2022
Earlier on Saturday, the Gujarat government said that it has decided to form a committee to implement the Uniform Civil Code. The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting which could be the last meeting under the present BJP government as Assembly elections are expected to be announced in the state by the next week.
"The committee will be headed by a retired High Court judge and have three to four members. Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel has been given powers by the cabinet to select members of the committee," Union minister Parshottam Rupala said.
The committee will be formed before the model code of conduct for elections comes into force, he added.
Rupala asserted that the proposed UCC will not violate the fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution.
The Hindu Marriage Act and Muslim personal laws will be covered under the UCC as these laws are not part of the Constitution, the Union minister added.
"We do not intend to override the fundamental rights of the people. UCC is about resolving discrepancies which arise in civil disputes, such as wife or daughter's claim on husband or father's property. We had received many representations from people about such issues," Rupala said.
The decision had nothing to do with the coming Assembly polls, he claimed, and dismissed the criticism by the opposition that the ruling BJP was trying to polarize Hindu votes by promising UCC.
The committee will evaluate various aspects related to the UCC and submit its report, based on which the state government will take a final decision about its implementation, Rupala said.
No deadline has been set for the committee to submit its report as of now, he said.
Gujarat Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi said the decision was taken as per the provisions of Article 44 of Part 4 of the Constitution which expects the state government to apply common law for all citizens.
"This is a historic decision by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel. Our government has honoured the wish of common people as well as BJP workers to have such a code," Sanghavi said.
Earlier, BJP governments in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh had announced the implementation of the UCC in their states.
