‘Followers of all religions must have the right to practise personal laws’ says Akhilesh Yadav
The SP chief alleged that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was trying to divert the attention of the people from real issues by raking up controversial matters like UCC
Lucknow: A delegation of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) on Sunday met Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav and handed him a memorandum against the Centre’s proposed move to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the country.
Yadav, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister, assured the delegation of his party’s support.
“It is the vision of our party that the followers of all religions must be given the right to practice their personal laws,” Yadav told the delegation, including AIMPLB member Khalid Rashid Farangi Mahali and Maulana Bilal Hasan Nadvi, in Lucknow.
The SP chief alleged that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was trying to divert the attention of the people from real issues by raking up controversial matters like UCC.
After the meeting, AIMPLB president Maulana Khalid Saifullah Rahmani said, “Today, we met SP president Akhilesh Yadav and discussed many issues including Uniform Civil Code.”
The memorandum said that in a country like India, UCC is not needed at all, nor is there any benefit from it, but there is the danger of harming secularism due to its implementation.
“The Constitution of the country has given protection to religious freedom and cultural identity. Every citizen of the country was given the right to have faith according to his religion, to follow and propagate it,” the memorandum said. “Under this, personal laws of minorities and tribals have special protection and in family matters every person is allowed to follow his religion.”
UCC refers to a common set of laws that will subsume customary laws across faiths and tribes and govern issues such as marriage, divorce, inheritance and maintenance. In the Constitution, it is a part of the non-justiciable directive principles of state policy.
Maulana Mahali, who was part of the delegation, said: “… Muslim Personal Law is an integral part of Islamic Shari’a, the foundation of which is the Quran Pak and Hadith Rasool. Neither we ourselves can make any change it in nor anyone can be allowed to change it.”
The memorandum further said that the UCC is an attempt to “snatch fundamental rights of minorities and tribals” and “is condemnable”.
“We collectively denounce UCC. Imposing it on any section of the country without its consent is actually a malicious attempt to erase its identity,” it added.
The AIMPLB said the proposed move to implement UCC will affect states such as Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura, which have been accorded special status by the Constitution.
Maulana Mahali also said that the board has given similar memorandums against the UCC and sought support from various leaders, including Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, his Telangana counterpart K Chandrashekar Rao, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Union minister Ramdas Athawale, NCP leader Sharad Pawar, and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray.
