NEW DELHI: A day after the Muslim Personal Law Board called Prime Minister Narendra Modi “dictatorial”, Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu ripped into the Board asking why it was dragging the PM into the Uniform Civil Code issue.
“Join a party of your choice if you want to make political comments,” Naidu said today. He also told the Board to not link triple talaq to the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and thereby politicize the issue.
The Muslim Personal Law Board (MLPB) yesterday said it will ‘boycott’ a Law Commission questionnaire on religious practices detrimental to women. It called the questionnaire – that seeks public opinion on backward religious practices – a ‘fraud’ and accused it of acting at the behest of the Centre. The Board also said the UCC “is not a good idea” for India.
“Triple talaq is being linked to Uniform Civil Code but main issues are gender justice, non-discrimination and dignity of women,” Naidu.
The Union Minister was at pains to assure that the questionnaire exercise is only about getting public opinion.
“Nothing will be imposed on the people, the government wants a debate,” he said.
The threat of Muslim organisations to boycott the law commission process also comes in the context of the Supreme Court hearing a challenge to triple talaq. At that hearing, the Centre came out clearly against the practice and called it “unconstitutional and violative of gender equality”.
Accusing the government of waging “a war” against the Muslim community and contending that the UCC, if implemented, will threaten the country’s pluralism, MLPB and other Muslim organizations said they will start a campaign to call a halt to the Law Commission’s exercise.
Like naidu, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has also said earlier the Law Commission move is an “academic exercise” and that a UCC will need Parliament’s approval. Jaitley said personal laws of all religions should be “compliant” with individual rights granted by the Constitution. He added that Hindu and Christian personal laws have also been amended in the past.
“The triple talaq case is not connected to the UCC. Religious practice can apply to rituals of death, birth and marriage. But there should not be discrimination between male and female with regard to inheritance and divorce. The right to human dignity must be protected. Personal laws must be compliant with the Constitution,” Jaitley had said.
Bureau Report
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