Modi’s BJP Moves to Ban Polygamy in India
Opponents call planned Uniform Civil Code an election ploy that would destroy diversity and pluralism
By: Nava Thakuria
There is growing debate in India over the Bharatiya Janata Party government’s proposed adoption of a Uniform Civil Code, with critics and opposition leaders arguing that the code would destroy India's diversity and pluralism, and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is advocating its adoption for political reasons, targeting the religious right of Muslim men to marry multiple wives.
Modi, in a speech in Bhopal in central India, called for aggressive debate over what he called the ‘one nation one rule’ policy, arguing that two laws in one house cannot not be accepted, linking it with the rights of Muslim women who dislike the practice of sharing their husbands with a second, third or fourth wife.
The proposed law, or Samāna Nāgarika Saṃhitā, would implement personal laws applying to all citizens equally regardless of their religion, gender, or sexual orientation. Personal laws are distinguished from public law and cover marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption, and family maintenance. Currently, the Indian constitution guarantees religious freedom and allows the country’s scores of different sects and religious groups to maintain their own affairs…