As debates on the reported move by the BJP-led Central Government to implement the Uniform Civil Code are raging in Kerala, where Muslims constitute over 25 per cent of the population, the influential Syro-Malabar Catholic Church has welcomed the idea of having a common civil code for all citizens of the country, while the Congress, its biggest ally the Muslim league and several other Muslim organisations have raised stiff objections.
“Having a common civil code for all citizens would be good for the prosperity of the country and the unity of the people,” said Cardinal Mar George Alencherry, Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, in Kochi on Sunday, adding, however, that it should be brought on the basis of consensus.
“Such a civil code should be brought about only by respecting all the traditional laws of our heritage and systems of customs and rituals of all sections of people including the Adivasis,” said the Major Archbishop. “I believe that the Government should be envisaging this. I think that is why the matter has been put up for discussions,” he added.
At the same time, the Congress party leading the Opposition UDF in the State and its biggest ally, the Muslim league, have vowed not to let the NDA regime in the Centre bring uniform civil code. The Congress says that such a code would lead to sharp polarisation in the society, while the Muslim league says the question of agreeing to the move does not arise at all.
Stating that any effort to implement common civil code would lead to the destruction of India's unity and secularism, Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala alleged that this was part of a secret agenda of the Sangh Pariwar, which was planning to gain political mileage through religious polarisation in the Uttar Pradesh elections.
“This would divide the people of India into two strata,” Chennithala, a former president of the State Congress and former Home Minister, said, adding that the Muslims, who had been following their own personal law, could not abandon it. “The basis of India's existence is secularism. Any move to destabilise it will lead to destruction of India,” he said.
According to the Muslim league, the efforts the BJP has allegedly started for implementing common civil code, will have far-reaching consequences and is raising big challenges to the secular system existing in the country. The party called for united efforts from the part of democratic and secular forces against the Centre's reported move.
“The Centre's effort is to obliterate Shari'a. There can be no compromise with the uniform civil code and the move to bring it. Strong protests would be brought up against this... The BJP is adopting an approach that is raising challenges to the fundamentals of secularism,” Muslim league general secretary ET Muhammad Basheer said.
Alleging that the BJP was bringing up its communal agendas one after the other, Basheer said that this trend would reach its peak by the time of the Uttar Pradesh election. “BJP president Amit Shah's theory that political benefits could be reaped by using the communal card, would destroy the very foundation of the nation,” the Muslim league leader alleged.