Article 15 of the Constitution of India clearly mentions that the State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds of race, religion, caste, sex, and place of birth.
Article 25 of the Constitution lays down that all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right to freely practice, and propagate religion subject to public order, morality and health, while Article 26 says that all denominations can manage their own affairs in matters of religion.
The singular issue that is always preventing the Uniform Civil Code from being implemented as a law, is the objection to the above issues by members of the Muslim community with the support of those who define themselves as backwards castes, or more specifically; those who believe that they are entitled to special privileges at all times, at any cost. Both communities reject the very concept of UCC because it disrupts their political strategy of special status in society.
The Uniform Civil Code (UCC) will bring all citizens onto a single civil platform where they have to abide by the Constitution of India, regardless of their religion, caste and social standing. The status of men, women and transgender will be legally equal in the eyes of the law as well as policies, while promoting equality and justice.
And therein lay the problems.
For the Muslims, the Constitution of India will supersede Sharia law. This means that Muslims will have to register their marriages in civil court, the men can only marry one woman at any given time and divorce will be subject to civil laws and not Sharia. Essentially, the Muslim woman will be uplifted to the same status as the men; in all areas including marriage, divorce, inheritance, legal rights and equality in relationship with everybody.
The same will apply for those who define themselves by their caste status. They will lose their “right” to reservations in government service, in higher education institutions and in preferential treatment accorded to them for lower standards of performance. They will also be subject to the same laws of marriage and inheritance as all other citizens.
Essentially; UCC will bring merit to the forefront. From seats in higher educational facilities to jobs in Government to payment of taxes, citizens will have to compete on one single platform of equality. This is not favored by most political parties, because it will destroy the concept of the vote-bank.
We know that the very concept of ‘reservations’ is bad for our social and financial progress. In this 21st century, a small number of tax-payers cannot be made to keep on bearing the burden of a large number of social dependents who are not, in any way, required to improve their individual efforts towards self-progress, just because they considered as people of “special” category. For our country to be powerful in every field; economic power being the most important, the removal of the quota and reservations system is a necessity.
The Uniform Civil Code will guarantee this. Social equality by law means that individuals can no longer claim special privileges. Each of us will have to succeed through open and unrestricted competition, a process that will allow the brightest from every section of society to succeed to their full potential. UCC will overcome the very concept of differentiation and ensure equality of all.
No doubt, that even the current government will look for loop-holes through which they can still undertake vote bank politics. Regardless of their public posturing on UCC, they also want to keep surviving politically. There is no doubt that our country will soon be governed by a version of a Uniform Civil Code that will ensure some changes to social norms, but whether a diluted version of UCC will be effective in practice would have to be experienced in reality.
