All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) faces "existential crisis if UCC is introduced" : BJP MP Mahesh Jethmalani

(Art 44 of the Constitution says clearly, the state shall endeavour to secure for all citizens a Uniform Civil Code throughout the territory of India.”) 

"It is time for all Indians to strongly support nation building....," says BJP MP Mahesh Jethmalai on Uniform Civil Code

 

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board has already fired the first volley in its all too predictable opposition to the Uniform Civil Code. Its extravagant statement released today (July 6) demands that every religious minority should be excluded from the purview of the UCC. 

"The AIMPLB is an NGO formed in 1973 to promote the application of Shariah among Muslims in India. The following needs to be noted: 

-- The AIMPLB faces an existential crisis if the UCC is introduced. The NGO will lose all its funding and largesse and become defunct."

-- "It’s prime motivation is self preservation. Muslim personal law is most in need of reform particularly in the interest of women’s empowerment. 

--- The Board exceeds its jurisdiction when it speaks for other religions and its demands on their behalf is an attempt to build a wider coalition to preserve fundamentalist practices which other religious minorities do not pursue( polygamy, Nikah Halala e.g.) 

The opposition to UCC is ex facie a subversion of the Constitution as Article 44 envisages a UCC. 

The UCC bill has not yet seen the light of day and yet the Board has proclaimed its veto. This is plainly baseless irrational opposition.  

It is time for all Indians to strongly support nation building efforts such as the UCC and put an end to the obstructionist stratagems of obscurantists".

Other issues in the UCC debate

-- A Muslim woman who accepts the second or third marriage of her husband or doesn’t "legally lodge a complaint" after being arbitrarily abandoned is not going to benefit even if the arbitrary triple talaq is declared illegal.

The present law against bigamous marriages among Hindus works in favour of only those Hindu women who choose to sue their husbands in a court of law.