By Ashu Saxena
The union government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has entered the last year of its second term. Prime Minister Modi has started chalking out strategy for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The “Uniform Civil Code,” one of the election promises of the RSS and the ruling BJP, is the last issue the Modi government is yet to implement/execute.
The election promise of scrapping Article 370 of the Constitution and building a Ram temple at Ayodhya has been fulfilled. It is a matter of fact that the way for the construction of Ram temple has been cleared not by the Modi government, but after the order of the Supreme Court. But before the elections, PM Modi will try to consolidate Hindu votes by inaugurating the temple.
Notably, the Central Law Commission on 15 June 2023 announced that it has held fresh consultations on the politically sensitive issue of “Uniform Civil Code” (UCC) by inviting views of various stakeholders including people and members of recognized religious organizations.
Earlier, the 21st Law Commission had examined the issue and sought views of all stakeholders on the Uniform Civil Code on two occasions. However, the term that Commission ended in August 2018.
Subsequently, a consultation paper was released in 2018 on “Reforms to Family Law.” The Commission in a public notice said, “After a lapse of more than three years from the date of issue of the said consultation paper, keeping in view the relevance and importance of the issue and various court orders thereon, the 22nd Law Commission has decided to re-examine the issue.” It has been decided to hold fresh discussions.” It is noteworthy that the 22nd Law Commission has recently been given an extension of three years.
Uniform Civil Code means that there should be a “common law” for all citizens of the country, which is not based on religion. Apparently, the Article 44 of the Constitution has emphasized the need to implement the Uniform Civil Code. Hence, since the constitution came into force, it is the responsibility of the government to mobilise the consent of all stakeholders for smooth implementation of the Uniform Civil Code across the country with legal sanctity without any discrimination. But, even after 75 years of independence in a democratic country like India, there is no consensus on this issue. The problem is that while Muslims are not ready for any change in their personal laws, Hindus are also not in favour of any alteration in their personal law. Personal Law is the law by which an individual is governed in respect of various matters such as, principles relating to marriage, divorce, maintenance, adoption, inheritance, guardianship, succession, etc.
Enforcement of Uniform Civil Code has been a longstanding poll promise of the Bharatiya Janata Party and has prominently figured in the past election manifestos of the party. By implementing this law, BJP wants to send a message that it is there to transform the country into a Hindu nation by making altering Muslim personal laws. It is in this backdrop that many BJP-led state governments are talking about implementing Uniform Civil Code even though, as per the Constitution, only the central government has the right to implement this law.
It is expected that the Central Law Commission will present its report by September this year. Ironically, the interesting aspect is that the G20 summit will also come to an end in September and by when the controversies that have emerged at the international level regarding the G20 will also be out in public. Therefore, mobilising public debate on the Uniform Civil Code at that point of time will serve Modi government with the opportunity to divert attention of the common people from G20-related controversies.
Before 2024 Lok Sabha elections PM Modi has also to face assembly elections in five states of Telengana, Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. Of these Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh are important. Modi’s leadership was challenged in these states even in the 2018 assembly elections. The BJP had lost in all the three states in previous Assembly polls. PM Modi’s popularity has also declined in the assembly elections held in the three north-eastern states and the southern state of Karnataka earlier this year.
Even though the BJP along with its allies has managed to return to power in the north-eastern states, it has, on its own, suffered losses in these states. The double engine government in Tripura has barely managed to reach the majority mark. In this state, where BJP’s allies were totally wiped out, the party also lost five of its sitting seats. In Meghalaya, which has 60 assembly seats, the BJP contested 59 seats and managed to win only two. In Nagaland, where the constituents managed to increase their seats, the BJP did not suffer any loss. Although, PM Modi had left no stone unturned in the election campaign of all the three states, he was seen leading road shows as a campaign trail in all the three states.
The BJP has faced a humiliating defeat in the recently concluded assembly elections in Karnataka. PM Modi was super active in this state for the last one year. After the announcement of elections, he further stepped up his effort and addressed a number of election rallies and even led many road shows. His efforts however could not yield much result in changing the mood of the people.
Therefore, in the forthcoming assembly elections due later this year, the BJP needs some relatively fresh issue to surcharge communal atmosphere as its double-engine plank alone is not gaining much support. It is in this backdrop that the BJP-ruled Uttarakhand government has stepped up consultation on the issue of Uniform Civil Code Act. Apparently, this is part of BJP’s strategy to heat up the issue before 2024 elections.
In fact, the Winter Session of Parliament to be held in November-December this year would be a last opportunity for the Modi government to introduce the Uniform Civil Code legislation in Parliament and try to get passed at least by the Budget session which would be the last session of Parliament before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
It is certain that the passage of this contentious Constitution Amendment Bill may not be possible in the present dynamics of the Parliament. But the Modi government will definitely succeed in making this an election plank by even introducing it in the Parliament. How much of electoral benefit he will get from this will be decided only after the results of the Lok Sabha elections.