‘Implementation of Uniform Civil Code to guarantee women from minority communities same rights as Hindu sisters’: BJP MP

NEW DELHI: Rajya Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh Harnath Singh Yadav made a strong pitch for early implementation of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) during the Zero Hour on Friday, saying that it would guarantee women from the Muslim, Christian and other minority communities the same rights to property, inheritance and post-divorce maintenance as Hindu women.
Raising the controversial issue amid an uproar by some members from the Opposition, Yadav stated: “Article 44 of the Constitution of India provides for the enforcement of UCC for all citizens of the country.But there are 10 crore women from the Muslim, Christians and other minority communities in India who are denied the right to live with their head held high, by some ignorant forces. It is a grave wrong, as per the Constitution, to discriminate against anybody on the grounds of religion, sex, community, region, race or language”.
Undeterred by the loud cries of disapproval from the Opposition benches, the BJP MP explained that UCC has nothing to do with religious or marriage rites. “It is directly related to humanity. Implementation of UCC will ensure that just like Hindu mothers and sisters, women from the Muslim, Christian and all other religious minorities will get the same rights to property and inheritance and adoption and also have the same minimum age for marriage.
He added that the UCC will ensure that the procedure and grounds for divorce are uniform for all. “Instead of pleading for post-divorce financial security, the minority women will get the same right to maintenance and alimony as a Hindu divorcee woman. One-marriage, one-wife norm will apply as in the case of Hindus. Just like in Hindu families, sons and daughters of minorities will get equal rights to family inheritance and will also get equal share in the property earned after marriage,” he said and asked “how any religion can be endangered or its sanctity violated by simply extending the right to life of dignity to its women”.
Congratulating Prime Minister Narendra Modi for bringing reforms to empower women during his tenure, Yadav said the Nari Shakti legislation and the law to end ‘triple talaq’ shall prove to be milestones in the times to come. “It is the need of the hour to establish a system for 10 crore women for the Muslim, Christian and other minority communities, that will uphold and safeguard their rights and dignity and measure up to the standards of an evolved society. I demand that UCC be implemented soon in the interest of achieving communal and social equity and harmony,” he stated.
UCC, though an old manifesto promise of the BJP, has returned to the centerstage of political discourse with several BJP-ruled states making a serious move to implement it. Uttarakhand formed a committee on the issue and is expected to be the first state to enforce UCC. Assam has already implemented it in parts and Gujarat is set to follow Uttarakhand by getting a committee to study UCC before unrolling it in the state.
The view in the BJP is that implementing UCC first in the states will prepare them better to anticipate and tackle the possible hiccups and challenges, ahead of a likely rollout at the national level.