Indian government pushes wider rollout of polarising civil code

India's interior minister has pledged to expand the implementation of a contentious common civil code across states governed by the ruling Hindu nationalist party. This decision is anticipated to provoke apprehension among minority Muslim citizens. India, with its population of 1.4 billion, is predominantly Hindu and is also home to approximately 220 million Muslims.

While India maintains a common criminal law, personal matters such as marriage, divorce, and inheritance are governed by customary traditions and faith-based laws, resulting in significant variations across communities.

The Uniform Civil Code (UCC), a long-standing goal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), seeks to replace these diverse rules with a standardized civil code. As of now, at least four states have adopted the UCC. Home Minister Amit Shah announced on Sunday that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance aims to implement the UCC in all 21 states governed by their party by 2029.

The campaign for a uniform civil code has sparked concerns, particularly among Muslim citizens, who argue that such a move would contravene their religious freedoms. Proponents of the UCC maintain that it would grant Muslim women equal rights to others by abolishing polygamy, ensuring equal property inheritance rights for sons and daughters, and mandating divorce proceedings to be conducted before civil courts.