The passionate debate that has engulfed the political and intellectual landscape of India over the federal government’s new-found fascination for a uniform civil code has been often echoed in the 69 years since the country’s independence.
The trigger for the debate is the opposition submitted by the Indian government in Supreme Court to the practice of triple talaq (divorce). But decades ago, on November 23, 1948, members of what was then the Constituent Assembly of newly-independent India engaged in days-long debate on proposed amendments to the controversial Article 44 of the Indian Constitution, which directed the state to secure, for all its citizens, a “uniform civil code”. The article was adopted without any amendment only after B.R. Ambedkar, the key architect of the Indian Constitution, assured apprehensive members of the assembly that it would never be misused to target minorities in Hindu-majority India and force everyone to follow homogenous rules in matters ranging from succession and inheritance to marriage and divorce.
That debate is a timely reminder today of the difficulty of enforcing a uniform way of life in a diverse and pluralistic society such as India — and this diversity finally constitutes one of the core strengths of the world’s largest democracy.
Therefore, if equality and gender justice is the ultimate aim of the debate, as has been professed, then every community in India must review its personal laws and ensure that they are progressive and reflect the evolving social demands of the times. Any approach or practice seen as arbitrary or discriminatory should be reformed from within the community, rather than being imposed upon by the state. Perhaps the best guidance on the matter can be sought from the Indian Constitution itself, which defines India as a sovereign, socialist, secular and democratic republic. It is therefore the obligation of both the government and its people to respect the beliefs and customs of all communities and religions and work towards the nation’s progress in cohesion.
