Indian PM Narendra Modi is no stranger to stirring controversy just before elections. Before the last general elections in 2019, he staged the Pulwana incident so that he could parade as a protectors of India, and he also blew up the status of Kashmir, so that its abolition after he had won was declared a fulfillment of a campaign promise. This time, with elections due next year, his remarks to a BJP meeting show that he is taking up the issue of a uniform civil code, in time for the next election. It should be remembered that a UCC is an old issue for the BJP, which wants the abolition of a welter of different personal laws, which cover marriage and inheritance, and the imposition of a UCC. The not-so-hidden aim is to attack the Muslim personal law, which allows for polygamy, cousin-marriage and prescribes unequal shares for male and female children in inheritance.
The BJP may not have thought the issue through. The UCC will offend Muslims, which is something the BJP is used to, but it will also offend other minorities, such as Christians, Tribals, Sikhs and Parsis. Indeed, it would not accommodate Hindus from South India, or people from the Northeast. Already, there is talk of various communities obtaining exemptions. Once that loophole is opened, all will try to get hold of it. The British, faced with the almost-bewildering mosaic of Indian society, were careful not to create a UCC, though they imposed uniform civil and criminal procedure codes. Before them, the Mughals were also careful to allow various communities to observe their customs. It should be noted that the various personal laws were administered as customary laws. Pakistan has not interfered with that, and even today, Muslims follow the Sharia in matters relating to family life, such as marriage and inheritance, not because The Sharia is the Command of the Almighty but because that is their age-old custom. True, Muslims in Pakistan are no longer allowed to follow non-Muslim custom in these matters, as many did before Partition.
Whether Modi makes this stunt work or not, will depend on whether his government enacts a UCC before the election or not. Even the previous Law Commission, in its final report, said that a UCC was a bad idea. Going into an election with a UCC that could be criticized would be likely to lose the BJP the support of groups it has targeted. However, the Occupied Kashmir example shows that this could be a campaign promise to be fulfilled at the beginning of the third term. After all, like the Rasm Mandir, this is an old BJP issue.
