The Gujarat authorities’s announcement that it’s going to arrange a committee on the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) is a leaf straight out of the BJP’s Uttarakhand playbook and in line with its 2019 election common election manifesto. However, authorized specialists mentioned the choice, introduced days earlier than the Mannequin Code of Conduct is predicted to return into motion within the poll-bound state, may not be constitutionally sound though it’d serve the ruling social gathering’s political goals.
The BJP drew criticism from the Congress and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) that labelled it a “diversionary tactic” and the ruling social gathering’s strategy to “keep away from speaking about actual points”. The Aam Aadmi Occasion (AAP) questioned the timing of the announcement and claimed that the ruling social gathering doesn’t need to implement UCC.
Although the choice was taken at a state Cupboard assembly, it was introduced from the BJP’s state headquarters in Gandhinagar, Shree Kamalam, by Union minister Parshottam Rupala. This indicated the political weight of the transfer. Rupala, when requested how the federal government deliberate to implement it provided that the MCC was days away, mentioned, “That’s what you consider (however) the following authorities will likely be shaped by us (BJP).”
Earlier this yr, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami introduced on the final day of Meeting ballot campaigning that his authorities would arrange a committee to draft UCC if re-elected. The BJP returned to energy and the Dhami authorities shaped a panel headed by Justice (retired) Ranjana Prakash Desai in Could, with the transient to verify all of the related legal guidelines controlling private issues for residents of the state. Since then, the committee has invited ideas on UCC from residents and state-based organisations, together with authorities businesses, non-government organisations, social teams and communities, spiritual our bodies, and political events.
The Congress’s Rajya Sabha MP Shaktisinh Gohil, who’s a lawyer and former chief of the Opposition within the state, mentioned, “That is merely the BJP’s frustration on the prospect of dropping the election and is just an attention-diverting tactic. Such a legislation (UCC) would require a constitutional modification and the powers for such modification lie with Parliament, not the state authorities. The twenty first Legislation Fee in 2018, underneath (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi’s tenure, rejected this proposal of UCC. So, the place does the query come up for the state being concerned on this exercise? And such an announcement is being made when the Mannequin Code of Conduct is predicted to return into pressure in two days.”
A senior lawyer at Gujarat Excessive Courtroom, talking on the situation of anonymity, mentioned, “The operate of a committee is to solicit opinions from all those that need to opine and, primarily based on the identical, the committee sends its advice to the federal government. Nevertheless, the primary objection to such a committee is that UCC, because the Structure says, is a union topic, not a state topic. So firstly, a state committee to that impact is unconstitutional. If in any respect such a committee is to be shaped, Legislation Commissions have been entrusted with this work … The Centre is opposing Ashwini Upadhyay’s petition at SC and on the similar time committees are being shaped in states.”
The lawyer added that it could virtually be inconceivable for the state’s legislature to implement UCC and this transfer solely serves as “a difficulty wielded for divisive politics throughout elections”.
The Seventh Schedule of the Structure’s Article 246 locations “marriage and divorce; infants and minors; adoption; wills, intestacy and succession; joint household and partition; all issues in respect of which events in judicial proceedings have been instantly earlier than the graduation of this Structure topic to their private legislation” in its concurrent checklist.
The twenty first Legislation Fee in 2018, in a session paper on household legislation, noticed that UCC “is neither essential nor fascinating at this stage”, and as an alternative urged amendments to present household legal guidelines.
Whereas Gujarat authorities spokesperson Jitu Vaghani, a Cupboard minister, hailed the transfer and credited the BJP’s “double engine authorities”, the Union Ministry of Legislation has opposed public curiosity litigation (PIL) pleas within the Supreme Courtroom searching for the implementation of UCC for regulating issues corresponding to marriage, divorce, upkeep, and alimony. The Centre, in an affidavit to the Supreme Courtroom, has primarily sought that the PILs (4 of them filed by BJP chief Ashwini Upadhyay) be dismissed as non-maintainable because the court docket can not subject route to Parliament to make sure legal guidelines since coverage formulation is the jurisdiction of elected representatives.
Commenting on the Centre’s stance earlier than the Supreme Courtroom and the Gujarat authorities’s transfer on UCC, Gohil added, “Each engines have failed as they might not ship something and that is solely a transfer to polarise the folks.”
The Congress chief additionally mentioned that the Gujarat authorities would possibly find yourself seeing the BJP’s tribal vote financial institution get eroded. “Tribals too will oppose this and this was one thing that was additionally identified by the Legislation Fee whereby it had mentioned that such a UCC will even have an effect on tribals. Minorities won’t be the one ones affected. I don’t see any profit to the BJP and, quite the opposite, Adivasis perceive that their tradition and their rights is likely to be affected when such a UCC is enacted. This may harm the BJP within the Adivasi belt. Each state’s voter thinks in a different way. So, Uttarakhand’s BJP being re-elected can’t be taken as a mannequin that can see related leads to Gujarat. A 3rd entrance has by no means labored in Gujarat, many have tried, though a 3rd entrance works in a number of different states. So, the BJP can not hope to win the election on this plank, in hopes of replicating its Uttarakhand win.”
AIMIM chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, expressing his objection, instructed reporters within the state on Saturday, “I’m not stunned. Every time an election comes, BJP takes up such points. I consider that the BJP doesn’t need to speak about actual points. Covid-19 administration in Gujarat was a failure. Inflation is skyrocketing as is unemployment. Why do they (BJP) not speak about actual points? … The Legislation Fee itself has mentioned that the nation doesn’t want UCC at this level … There are tribals in Gujarat, how will they settle for this? The Structure has granted them particular protections. Will tribal BJP leaders conform to this?”
At a public rally at Banaskantha in a while Saturday night time, Owaisi mentioned, “There are a number of legal guidelines corresponding to Juvenile Justice Act, Particular Marriage Act, Indian Succession Act which doesn’t comply with spiritual legal guidelines however BJP solely desires to maneuver ahead with its Hindutva agenda, and it has been BJP’s modus operandi earlier than elections to all the time elevate such points in order that vote-bank politics will be performed.”
Criticising the BJP, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal mentioned on Sunday, “The BJP doesn’t want to implement UCC … if the BJP intends to implement it, then implement it for the entire nation. The federal government must be making UCC which has the consent of all communities.”
