A. Sayeed

By Pervez Bari, Maeeshat.in,

Bhopal : The Social Democratic Party of India, (SDPI), has come out in support of the stand taken by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, (AIMPLB), against the move of framing Uniform Civil Code, (UCC), and appeal to Muslims to boycott and not to respond to the questionnaire of the Law Commission. The questionnaire, the party charged, is a ploy to usher in Hindu Rashtra ideology in India from the back door.

SDPI national president A. Sayeed in a statement concurred with the AIMPLB that the Law Commission’s decision to seek public feedback on UCC is a calculated move aimed at disrupting communal harmony and when implemented, the UCC will bring to an end country’s pluralism and paint all in one colour. He said the questionnaire reveals in to the intention of the Commission. Some of the questions point out to the fact that it has been framed to target a particular religious group and their personal law.

Sayeed said that in the pretext of opposing the injustice and complications connected to triple “talaq”, government is trying to snatch away the religious freedom guaranteed in the Indian Constitution. India is not yet ready to digest such controversial issues which are being raised just for political gains. The Indian Constitution already provides that such issues need to be taken by the government only if the people belonging to various communities are able to form a consensus in this regard. He called upon all secular parties to oppose the step tooth and nail. He also asked the All India Muslim Personal Law Board to come forward with a formula to protect the rights of women, as ensured in Quran and Sunnah, including those connected to marriage and divorce. It is the moral responsibility of the AIMPLB to bear out that rights of women can be protected without going for a Uniform Civil Code.

Sayeed said there is a universal consensus that the State is not the only source of law. Pluralistic legal system prevails in many of the modern democratic secular countries. It is strange that the Law Commission is not able to find much merit in the concept of legal pluralism. He said the religious minorities should not be forced to give away their personal rights simply because someone in the Sangh Parivar thinks that a particular set of rules represent UCC. It will be a grave mistake. When recommending UCC in the directive principles of state policy, the Constitution did not mean flattening out all the rights of individuals and different communities as uniform. Sayeed said that it is also disgusting to note that while the directive principle of a uniform civil code is emphasised, no one speaks of the non-implementation of other directive principles that are far more important : the right to work, living wages, avoiding the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few and protection of monuments.