Kerala Muslim body indicates opposition to Uniform Civil Code

Muslim organisations appear to be staunchly against the Centre's push for a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the country, with the Samastha Kerala Jem-iyyathul Ulama -- a Sunni-Shafi'i scholarly body -- on Sunday indicating its opposition to the proposed law.

The opposition Congress in the state too said that UCC was not required and that the party had indicated its opposition to the same since 2018. Leader of Opposition in the state assembly V D Satheesan said that senior Congress leader and party general secretary in-charge of Communications, Jairam Ramesh, had back in 2018 said that UCC was not required.

"That is our stand even now," he said. He said that while the BJP-ruled Centre was trying to divide people through such measures, it was the Congress which was trying to unify the people of the country. "It was a Congress leader -- Rahul Gandhi -- who went to meet the people of violence-hit Manipur. The PM is still silent on what is going on there." Satheesan said.

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Meanwhile, the Samastha's stand comes in the wake of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), Congress ally and a member of opposition UDF in Kerala, and the Imam of the Palayam Juma Masjid speaking out against the UCC. Muhammad Jifri Muthukkoya, president of Samastha Kerala Jem-iyyathul Ulama, told reporters here today that not just Muslims, but even other religions -- Christianity, Buddhism, Jainism, etc, -- would not be able to accept the UCC.

He said that as far as Muslims were concerned, marriages, divorce, inheritance or succession are all part of their religion and there are certain rules and regulations which have to be followed for them to become valid. "So when they are made part of a public law, a part of the religion will be lost. Muslims cannot agree to that. They cannot accept or agree with any law that takes away a part of their religion as marriages, inheritance and succession are part of their faith."

"Not just Muslims, I believe even other religions -- Christians, Buddhists, Jains, etc -- would find it difficult to accept the UCC," he contended. Even tribals have their own laws and rules regarding marriages and inheritance, he said. In these circumstances, it would be difficult for any religion to accept it and "there might arise a situation where a huge public agitation, including everyone not in favour of UCC, may have to be initiated against it", he said.

Earlier this week, the IUML had termed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's push for implementing UCC in the country as an election agenda ahead of the Lok Sabha polls next year as he has nothing to show for his nine-year governance. The IUML leaders said that UCC was "not a Muslim issue", but Modi was trying to project it as one. A couple of days after that, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan too termed the UCC as an "electoral agenda" and urged the Centre to withdraw from its move to impose it.

A day prior to that, Palayam Juma Masjid Imam V P Suhaib Moulavi said that implementation of the UCC would be a violation of the people's fundamental rights. In the wake of the opposition to UCC from various quarters in Kerala, Union Minister of State (MoS) for Parliamentary Affairs V Muraleedharan on Saturday appealed to the Muslim community in Kerala not to fall for the propaganda mounted by the ruling CPI (M) and others against the UCC. He claimed that the Centre's move to implement the UCC was not with an eye on the general elections scheduled to be held next year.