Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the UCC would, for the first time, allow many women from minority communities to exercise their voting rights independently and freely.
"The Uniform Civil Code will guarantee women the right to live with dignity and exercise their rights over property. It will help prevent child marriage and polygamy," Sarma said.
He described the legislation as a landmark social reform that would usher in a "new life" for minority women.
A day after the Assam government tabled the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the state Assembly, the Chief Minister on Tuesday, May 26, mounted a strong defence of the proposed legislation. Replying to the motion of thanks to the Governor's address in the Assembly, Sarma moved quickly to address concerns that the legislation is politically motivated or targeted at minorities.
"We do not want anyone to feel that we ignore minority communities because we receive fewer votes from them.
The Uniform Civil Code is being brought to secure the rights of women from minority communities," he said.
The Chief Minister laid out the specific objectives driving the proposed law - ensuring women's right to property, curbing child marriage and polygamy, and expanding women's democratic participation.
"This is a reform for the empowerment of women and I believe people across communities will eventually support it," he added.
The bill, however, has not gone unchallenged, drawing criticism from political parties from as far as Telangana. The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) resident and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi launched a pointed attack on the legislation, accusing the Assam government of using the UCC as a vehicle to impose Hindu personal law on Muslims.
Owaisi alleged that Hindu principles were being quietly embedded into rules governing succession, inheritance and divorce - areas where Muslim personal law currently applies. He also highlighted what he called a glaring internal contradiction - the bill exempts tribal communities from its purview entirely, while making it binding on Muslims.
"Only Hindu culture is being protected, while Muslims have to comply with these so-called uniform rules. Every community has the right to protect its culture under Article 29, but why is only the tribals' autonomy being protected?" he wrote on social media.
The AIMIM chief went further, arguing that the legislation runs against the original intent of India's founding fathers.
The UCC Bill is expected to be passed in the Assembly with the BJP-led NDA holding a 2/3 majority in the House.
Uttarakhand and Gujarat are the first two states in post-independent India to pass and implement a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) to establish a unified legal framework for personal laws. Both states follow highly similar frameworks aimed at gender equality, equal inheritance, and mandatory registration for marriages and live-in relationships.
UCC proposals and legislation in Gujarat and Uttarakhand mandate
marriage registration,
equalizes inheritance rights for men and women across religions,
outlaws bigamy,
and requires court decrees for divorce.
It also formalizes the registration process for living relationships and recognizes children and maintenance rights from such unions.Exemptions: Similar to Uttarakhand, the Gujarat code exempts Scheduled Tribes and certain communities whose customary rights are constitutionally protected. The implementation of UCC has been the third major election promise of the BJP since 1990s.
The two other being - abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and setting up of a grand Ram temple at Ayodhya.
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