Law Commission of India has given 30 days period to every voluntary citizen of India to give their views and ideas on Uniform Civil Code.
In response to the notification issued by Ministry of Law and Justice on 14th June 2023, I hereby volunteer myself to give my personal field of vision as one of the bona-fide stakeholders.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=1]Nagaland is the only state in India which was born out of a historic Political Agreement in 1963.
The agreement specifically mentioned that no Act of Parliament shall apply to Naga religious or social practices, Naga customary law and process, civil and criminal justice administration including Naga Customary Law rulings.
Therefore it is paramount to understand that implementation of Uniform Civil Code, there should be no contradiction and infringement into the Constitutional rights and protection given to the Nagas under Article 371-A of Indian constitution.
Diversity in India has multiple ethnicities, multiple religions.
India is having people from all cultural backgrounds who follow different practices.
In point of fact, a nation as diverse as India, with a plethora of religious and cultural identities, Law Commission of India need to understand that implementation of UCC does not infringe upon the rights and beliefs of any community.
There should not be any lack of consensus among the various religious and cultural communities in India on the UCC.
The apprehension is that a common code will definitely infringe into their traditions and impose rules which certainly will be abused, dictated and influenced by the majority of religious communities.
Having UCC shall make separation of the state from the religion from the state meaningful since personal laws shall cease to exist when a Uniform Civil Code is implemented and that will directly contradict Article 25 of the Indian constitution.
It is understood that electorally as of today BJP is in a comfortable position to enact a law and establish the legitimacy, nevertheless,
The fear is on the pretext of the UCC, the very Constitutional rights to freedom of religion of one's choice will become not pertinent.
In conclusion of my views, I sincerely opine that every concerned member in the Law Commission of India should revisit how and why all political dispensation overtime have trifled with personal laws and the UCC and why the UCC discourse got politicised during 1980s.
And also, not to forget what has happened in Northeast India when Centre tried to introduce the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019.
Finally, every Naga of all ages must unitedly stand to protect the Article 371-A, which is the true PARASOL in time of need to protect our identity and with dignity.
Bravo! Article 371-A.