Guwahati: Citing a report by a sub-committee formed to study the issue, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said Saturday that Assam’s indigenous Muslim population does not wish to “mix” with migrant Muslims living in the state.
“The Muslim community in Assam has one religion, but culture and origin are separate. One of them is indigenous to Assam and has no history of migration in the last 200 years.
“That section wants that they are not mixed with migrant Muslims and be given a separate identity. But it’s the sub-committee’s report, the government hasn’t taken the decision yet,” CM Sarma said, adding that the report has been presented to the state government.
He also said that the state government will take a decision on notifying the identity of indigenous and migrant Muslims in Assam based on the report.
“It [state government] will take a decision in the future on who is a Muslim and who is a migrant Muslim. There is no opposition to this in Assam. They know the difference, it has to be given an official form,” CM Sarma was quoted as saying.
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Assam CM bats for UCC
Speaking to reporters in Delhi, the Assam chief minister also endorsed the Uniform Civil Code (UCC).
“No Muslim woman would want her husband to get three wives. No one would want that. For Muslim women and mothers to get justice, after the triple talaq ban, Uniform Civil Code should also be implemented,” CM Sarma told reporters in New Delhi.
“I am a Hindu, there is UCC for my daughter and sister. If my daughter and sister are protected by the UCC, then that protection should also exist for Muslim women,” he added.
The UCC is a common set of civil laws guiding matters such as marriage, divorce, adoption, inheritance and succession for all citizens, irrespective of their religion.
Article 44 of the Constitution has a provision for a Uniform Civil Code for the citizens of India as a Directive Principle of State Policy. In its 2019 manifesto, the BJP had committed to drafting a Uniform Civil Code to “protect the rights of all women”.
The ongoing debate, however, was sparked by Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami’s decision to set up a panel to draft a Uniform Civil Code for the state. Himachal Pradesh CM Jairam Thakur, too, has stated in public that his government is open to implementing the UCC.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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