When the whole world is striving for gender equality, unfortunately in India, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) is opposing equality of Muslim women before law.
Even when countries like Pakistan, Egypt, Tunisia, Iraq have amended the legal provisions to divorce women and got away with Triple Talaq, the influential organisations of Muslims in India like AIMPLB want to continue with such inhuman tradition. The Muslim organisations in India suspect the Union Government’s intention to implement the Uniform Civil Code nationwide which according to them is against the plural society of India. The Indian Government headed by PM Narendra Modi has the mandate to bring in Uniform Civil Code, to work for gender equality and to rule out the domination of certain religious and other organisations working against the Soul of Indian Constitution.
Despite opposition from certain groups, the Indian Government headed by Modi has shown the guts to file an affidavit in the Supreme Court against the inhuman tradition of Triple Talaq and gender discrimination against Muslim women (in the case of Shayara Bano). Earlier governments could never take such a stand. It should be considered as the Master Stroke since most of the opponents of Modi are also appreciating his contention. In the past Congress PM Rajiv Gandhi tried to take a stand in support of such victimised Muslim women like Shah Bano in 1985 but had to take a U-turn due to the nationwide opposition from the Muslim community, including half a million strong rally of Muslims organised by Haji Mastan, a smuggler-turned-politician of Mumbai. PM Modi is not scared of such opposition since he does not get involved in “appeasement politics”. He, as an assertive leader, knows his job very well and has absolute majority in the Lok Sabha, unlike the first BJP PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government (1999-2004).
The crux of the problem is not just implementation of Uniform Civil Code (UCC), which is a “mandate given to the State” by those who framed the Constitution of India and made it applicable w.e.f. 26th January 1950, according to the newly appointed Member of Law Commission of India and a senior lawyer Abhay Bhardwaj. He cites the Constitutional provision 51(A)(e), incorporated by late PM Indira Gandhi vide the 42nd amendment during the Emergency in the Fundamental Duties, for dignity of women i.e. “(e) to promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India transcending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities; to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women;” to be read with the Article 44: “The State shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India.” Bhardwaj states that the non-codified laws like Muslim Personal Law ceased to be implemented the day the Constitution became effective. He feels proud that the PM has given him the opportunity to be the part of history making by appointing him a Member of the prestigious Law Commission headed by the retired Judge of the Supreme Court, Dr BS Chauhan.
Some of the Muslim organisations are furious with PM Modi and his Law Commission since an appeal has been released with the Questionnaire on Uniform Civile Code (UCC) “to consider the opinions of all stake-holders and the general public for ensuring that the norms of no one class, group or community dominate the tone or tenor of family law reforms.” The Questionnaire has 16 questions regarding the comprehensive exercise of the revision and reform of family laws, as Article 44 of the Indian Constitution provides that “the State shall (and not will) endeavour to provide for its citizens a Uniform Civil Code throughout the territory of India.”
The first PM Jawaharlal Nehru was for UCC. Even the Indian State of Goa which was under Portuguese rule till 1961 is having Uniform Civil Code for all for the last 500 years. Even in 1995, Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena leader Manohar Joshi, who later became the Speaker of Lok Sabha, the Lower House of Indian Parliament, declared intention for implementation of UCC in Maharashtra. The Congress leader from Goa Ramakant Khalap, who was also the Union Law Minister of India, has been campaigning for countrywide implementation of Uniform Civil Code. Khalap, along with the media baron from Mumbai Tariq Ansari of Mid-day Group, favoured UCC in India when the National Seminar on Uniform Civil Code was organised by Naarad Niketan-CERP at Ahmedabad in 2006, whereas Syed Shahbuddin, former diplomat and MP of Babri Masjid Action Committee and AIMPLB then opposed it tooth and nail.
The case of Shayara Bano of Kolkata is before the Supreme Court to challenge the very provision of instantaneous Triple Talaq (Talaq-e-Bidat) and two other evils associated with it – polygamy and nikah halala (a debased practice that forces divorced women willing to go back to their husbands to consummate a second marriage before returning to the original fold). Her petition wants the Supreme Court to declare all three discriminatory practices as illegal and unconstitutional as they violate the rights guaranteed by the Constitution under Article 14, 15, 21 and 25. Shayara Bano’s husband has opposed her plea on the ground that being Muslims, they were governed by the Muslim Personal Law, and Triple Talaq, polygamy and nikah halala are sanctified provisions under Muslim Personal Law. The Indian Muslim Personal Law discriminates against women.
The Supreme Court in various judgments has directed the Union Government to implement the Uniform Civil Code in the entire country. Unlike earlier Congress-led governments, PM Modi has shown the guts to initiate not only debate on UCC but also is keen on making it countrywide after he gets the report from the Law Commission. Modi does not mind bringing in reforms even in the Personal Laws of Hindus and Christians where the provisions discriminate against women. The said Questionnaire has questions pertaining to not only Muslim women and Triple Talaq but also about the Hindu women’s right and Christian women’s right to equality too. The Indian Government does not want to compromise the diversity and the plurality which is the core social fabric of India. In the days to come, the family law reforms in all the religious Personal Laws would be initiated despite hue and cry from certain quarters since PM Modi derives inspiration from Sardar Patel, the Iron Man of India.
Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. Since the Total Fertility Rate of a Muslim woman is higher than any other religious group woman, India is going to be the largest Muslim populated country in the world with 18% (310 million) Muslim population by 2050, according to the Pew Research Center study, bypassing Indonesia and Pakistan. Of course, India would continue to be a Hindu majority country with 77% Hindu population. As per the Indian Census 2011, India has 172.2 million (17.22 %) Muslim population, being majority religious group in two Indian States i.e. Jammu and Kashmir and Lakshadweep. Out of the total population of 1.21 billion, Hindus are 966.2 million (79.80%), having majority religious group in 28 Indian States. Indian Muslim population in 2016 is estimated to be equal to that of the total population of Pakistan these days. AIMPLB leadership says Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts to implement the Uniform Civil Code would lead to another Partition.
(The writer is the Founder Director & Professor, Sardar Patel Research Institute-CERLIP, running M.Phil. and Ph.D. programmes. E-mail : [email protected])
