UCC should be built around constitutional values, not religious morality

The real question is not whether India needs a UCC. The question is: what kind of UCC does India want to build?

Representational image | Flickr

The Uniform Civil Code has long been one of the major promises from the BJP. While implementing a nationwide UCC would almost certainly trigger strong political and social reactions, the party seems to have chosen a more gradual and smart way to make it a reality. With this move, Assam has become the third BJP-ruled state to move ahead with UCC-related reforms after Uttarakhand and Gujarat.

There are, of course, many opinions and debates around the UCC. Some see it as a necessary reform, others see it as political messaging. But for me, the highlight was the response from AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, who termed the move a “backdoor imposition” of Hindu law on Muslims.

“The Assam Uniform Civil Code is not uniform at all. It completely exempts tribal communities from UCC’s coverage. Every community has the right to protect its culture under Article 29, but why is only the tribals’ autonomy being protected? This is the imposition of a law that no one wants,” he had posted on X. 

“This is a backdoor imposition of Hindu law on Muslims. On succession, inheritance and divorce, the Hindu principles are being imposed. Only Hindu culture is being protected, while Muslims have to comply with these so-called ‘uniform’ rules,” Owaisi added.

Hindu Code reforms

The debate around the UCC often gets reduced to slogans. Supporters see equality, a way toward a better, more just and progressive society. Opponents call it majoritarianism, where minorities don’t have space for their own culture. So what’s true?

What’s the basis of the criticism that the UCC is simply another name for extending Hindu personal law to everyone else? While figures like Owaisi often use this argument to oppose reforms, completely dismissing such concerns would also be intellectually dishonest, as there is some historical basis for it.

While reading law in my first year, one thing became quite clear to me: India’s post-independence reform of Hindu personal laws, commonly called the Hindu Code reforms, did not come out of nowhere. These reforms borrowed heavily from existing Hindu customs, legal traditions, and social practices while trying to modernise them at the same time.

And even today, traces of those origins are still visible. For example, maintenance and alimony provisions reflect an older understanding of marriage as something beyond a contract between two people, a lifelong relationship where the husband has to carry responsibilities even after separation. 

However, with time, these reforms became revolutionary for their era. They moved beyond traditional religious understandings, introduced divorce, expanded women’s rights, and challenged many orthodox social practices.

In other words, Hindu personal law itself slowly became something of a hybrid—perhaps rooted in tradition initially, but gradually reshaped through constitutional values and modern law.

That is why, while concepts like maintenance may have historical roots in older Hindu legal traditions, the maintenance and alimony rights that exist today largely operate through statutory law rather than direct religious rules.

Eventually, the Hindu Code reforms changed so much that even if parts of this framework are extended to other communities, many of these laws would still arguably remain beneficial from the perspective of women’s rights and gender equality.

But this also does not mean these laws themselves are perfect. There are still provisions that continue to raise questions. For example, inheritance rules under Section 15 still create situations where a woman dying without a will may see her husband’s heirs prioritised over her own parents. Similarly, questions around guardianship laws continue to exist.

And then there is an additional question. Scheduled Tribes still remain outside large parts of these legal frameworks. If these protections are important, then why should tribal women be excluded from them? Why should daughters from Scheduled Tribe communities deserve different legal protections from every other daughter in India?

Constitutional values over religious morality

That is why, despite knowing that Owaisi is no messiah of women’s rights, I partially agree with him on two points.

First, if the UCC is supposed to be uniform, then it should actually mean uniform—for every citizen of India, including the Scheduled Tribes.

Second, I also believe that a genuinely UCC cannot simply mean replacing multiple religious frameworks with one religious framework that has already been legally codified.

No, I am not rejecting the idea of UCC. In fact, this is something I have argued for almost my entire life. I am simply arguing that personal laws governing marriage, divorce, inheritance, and maintenance affect fundamental rights, especially gender equality. A democratic state cannot indefinitely maintain different legal standards for citizens simply because they belong to different religious communities.

The real question, therefore, is not whether India needs a UCC. The question is: what kind of UCC does India want to build?

A genuine UCC should be built around constitutional values rather than religious morality. Its foundation should be human rights, gender equality, individual liberty, and equal citizenship. It should take good ideas wherever they exist, reject practices that violate equality, and create laws that see people first as citizens rather than primarily members of religious communities.

UCC may ultimately become necessary if India wishes to maintain equal civil rights across communities. But it is equally important to ensure that its foundation is built on human rights and equal citizenship rather than simply creating uniformity for its own sake.

Amana Begam Ansari is a columnist, writer, and TV news panellist. She runs a weekly YouTube show called ‘India This Week by Amana and Khalid’. She tweets @Amana_Ansari. Views are personal.

(Edited by Saptak Datta)