On 15th of December, the Union Cabinet approved a proposal to raise the legal age of marriage of women from 18 years to 21 years. During the Independence Day address in August 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the same and said the Government was planning to amend the law for the same. The new Bill proposes to amend ‘The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006’& consequential amendments in laws relating to age of marriage – Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872’; ‘Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936’; ‘the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937 the Special Marriage Act, 1954’; ‘the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955’; and ‘the Foreign Marriage Act, 1969’. Also the laws namely ‘the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956’; and ‘Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956’.

There were rumours that were floating when the Union cabinet approved the proposal to raise the legal age of marriage from 18 to 21 that the age of marriage for the Muslim girls will remain 15 years which is according to the Muslim Personal Law Board thereby affecting the fertility rate and affecting the demographic equations further. But the air of rumour is now being cleaned up and it is decided that personal laws would also be amended to increase the marital age of women to 21. Now if the amendment is being done uniformly for people of every religion then it clearly raises the speculations that the name of the next station for the train of BJP will be “Uniform Civil Code”. Islamists after the approval of the cabinet ministry have started to raise their voice against this amendment and called this amendment against the muslim personal law board. IUML MP Abdul Wahab gives adjournment motion notice in Rajya Sabha to discuss the proposal cleared by Union Cabinet that raises the minimum age of marriage of women from 18 to 20 years.

Few months ago the debate in the country about Uniform civil code rose after the Delhi High court backed Uniform civil code and asked the centre to take necessary steps to implement it. It’s not the first time courts have asked the centre to bring Uniform civil code in the country. From the Shah Bano case of 1985 to ABC vs the state of 2015 to Jose Paul Coutinho vs Maria Luisa case of 2019, courts have repeatedly asked the government to not run away from their responsibility and implement UCC,but sadly because of the pursuit of Muslim vote bank no government has able to develop a spine to bring UCC so far. Uniform civil code is a colonial legacy left behind by the Britishers. Not only it is under the Directive principles of State policy of constitution but also important for women empowerment (mainly of muslim women). It is also necessary to bring true secularism in the country and get rid of the pseudo secularism with some of the political parties shows. The running away from implementing Uniform civil code by the political parties which are in the left of the political spectrum, clearly shows their anti Hindu bias.

The Delhi High court stirred controversy. Islamic fanatics started to raise their voice against Uniform civil code. Many Islamic fanatics and Islamic fundamentalists started to glorify Sharia law openly after the Delhi High court incident, which clearly shows the mood of a particular community.
The bringing of Uniform civil code will mean the banning of polygamy. As per the Muslim personal law, a Muslim man can have more than one spouse, but after coming of Uniform civil code ,the Muslim man will be entitled to have only one wife. The Uniform civil code will bring uniformity in the child marriage act, and the age for marriage of a girl or a boy will become equal for every community and the Muslim community will not be able to get away from it. Uniform civil code will also give adoption right to all, and will give guardianship rights to Muslim women after divorce.
Even after the concept of Uniform civil code is clearly mentioned in the directive principles of State policy and also is asked by the Indian courts to implement several times, still some political parties are standing against Uniform civil code which clearly shows their Muslim appeasement politics and their anti-hindu stand. Moreover, neither the churches nor mosques are under state control but only Hindu temples. What does it tell about our so called “secular political parties”? Is the Indian state really secular?
Uniform civil code is the need of the hour to get rid of the anti Hindu bias and to crush the muslim appeasement in India and to get away from “Rajiv Gandhi” syndrome. UCC is what India demands !!!

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