Madhya Pradesh has started the process to implement a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) by the year-end on the lines of two other Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled states, Uttarakhand and Gujarat, people aware of the matter said on Wednesday.
The people said chief minister Mohan Yadav on Tuesday directed state home department officials to initiate the process to pass the UCC law by the end of 2026. He urged ministers to provide suggestions on the matter as he presided over a Cabinet meeting.
In August 2024, Yadav suggested his government was in no hurry to implement UCC, as every state had different circumstances.
An official said Yadav on Tuesday emphasised that the BJP’s central leadership wanted Madhya Pradesh to move forward with UCC. “The home department will prepare a draft, while ministers have been asked to study challenges faced during [UCC] implementation in Uttarakhand and Gujarat,” said the officer.
The department is expected to constitute a committee to draft a UCC bill. Retired judge Ranjan Desai led panels that drafted the UCC laws in Uttarakhand and Gujarat.
In December 2022, the then chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced the formation of a committee to examine the UCC implementation, but the plan never materialised.
{{/usCountry}}In December 2022, the then chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced the formation of a committee to examine the UCC implementation, but the plan never materialised.
{{/usCountry}}A minister said that tribals would be exempted from the UCC ambit in Madhya Pradesh, like in Uttarakhand and Gujarat.
On Friday last, Union home minister Amit Shah reiterated the BJP’s promise in poll-bound Assam to introduce a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) across the country, promising tribals will be kept out of its purview.
UCC is a contentious and polarising issue, referring to a common set of laws for personal matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, and succession for all. Constitution’s Article 44, one of the directive principles of state policy, advocates UCC. But respective religion-based civil codes have governed personal matters since independence.
In February 2024, Uttarakhand became the first state in the country to pass a UCC law. Gujarat followed suit last month.
A pan-India UCC is the BJP’s third unfulfilled ideological promise. The construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya and the revocation of Jammu and Kashmir’s semi-autonomous status under the Constitution’s Article 370, the other two major ideological goals, have been achieved since the BJP came to power at the Centre in 2014.
Madhya Pradesh minister Vishvas Sarang welcomed the move to introduce UCC in the central Indian state, calling such uniformity essential for the future of current and upcoming generations. “The law must apply equally to all citizens, without discrimination based on caste or religion.”
Opposition Congress spokesperson KK Mishra called the move a diversionary tactic. “The BJP has come up with this to divert attention from real issues when farmers, common men, and youth are facing infinite problems. This is an old BJP tactic...people do not believe them.”