By Patricia Mukhim
Attempts by the BJP government at the Centre to impose a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) at this juncture can only be seen as a political ploy. Perhaps the BJP is testing the waters to check if Hindus who are largely its vote bank will take this bait. This presupposes that Muslims and other minority religious groups will oppose the UCC and that the electorate will be sharply polarised. It is easy to make people believe that certain sections of people in India claim special rights by virtue of being minorities either because they follow a particular religion or by virtue of their being tribal and backward because they were deprived of facilities that have been enjoyed by the majority community.
Each time the UCC is raked up it is Muslim women who show preference for this aspirational section of the Constitution. The term, ‘Uniform Civil Code’ is explicitly mentioned in Part 4, Article 44 of the Indian Constitution which says, “The State shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India.” The framers of the Constitution debated this Article at length and amidst points and counterpoints it was placed as a Directive Principle (which is not justiciable and at best an aspiration). India is too diverse a country to even attempt a single code of civil conduct. In fact India defies the very notion of a “nation state.” A nation is usually defined as a large body of people united by common descent, history, culture, language and inhabiting a particular country or territory. To the discerning eye India is several nations, races, cultures and languages. The link language across the nation is English. Hindi is spoken only in Northern and Western India. It would be impossible to transact in Hindi in South India and in the North East. Our cultures are distinct and so are our food habits. The very fact that beef is sacred to some and food to others is in itself a huge dividing factor. As long as food habits are not tinkered with and people are left to follow their cultural cuisines they may be amenable to parts of the Constitution being tweaked such as in turning a directive principle into a right and a law. But as of now when people are already so apprehensive about the intrusion into their religious and cultural rights the UCC may be met with resistance.
Coming to Meghalaya and the other tribal regions in Assam and Tripura where the 6th Schedule of the Constitution is operative, the District Councils have been created essentially to protect and promote the tribal customs and usages in terms of marriage and divorce amongst others. It so happens that large sections of the tribes are Christians and Christianity has a set of defined principles governing marriage and divorce. How does the UCC play out if not in direct contravention of the Biblical tenets. No wonder that in Nagaland, a state ruled by a government in alliance with the BJP, the church and other civil societies have already publicly declared that they will not accept the UCC.
The question to ask the BJP is whether the UCC will do away with the caste system and treat the Dalits as equals? Can that ever happen in a country marked by outrageous caste discrimination even now in the 21st century when India claims to be a world power and the Prime Minister travels to different countries of the world ostensibly as a peace emissary. In fact the question that should have been asked by the US media other than the cliched one about the diminishing tenets of democracy is why there still exists in this country a group of people who by virtue of their births remain the outcasts of Hindu society? It might have taken the PM some time to answer that. But perhaps people in the rest of the world too have internalised the fact that Dalits ought to be treated as lesser humans.
So much for the UCC. Let me now come to the newly constituted Executive Council of the KHADC which has defied all norms of political ethics and turned the council into a sort of stable where the name of the game is crass opportunism. Albert Thyrniang in his article in this paper has rightly pointed out the unprecedented conflict of interests where the Opposition in the State Assembly is a coalition partner in the KHADC. Needless to say the Congress MDCs have not even a sliver of love for their party. One wonders if the Congress Chief Vincent Pala has given his seal of authority to the Congress MDCs to join the NPP-led Executive Council. If he has then it’s the beginning of the end for the Congress in Meghalaya.
The ADCs have anyway been the playground of asinine political entrepreneurs – merchants of thirst where water is equal to liquid gold. That the District Councils would even pretend to do anything for the people is absurd. We have seen so many ECs come and go. Has anyone of them done anything remarkable or memorable that would be remembered as a landmark other than of course stalling the mining of uranium. But that’s because there is public opposition to it. Left to itself the ADC would have conceded to UCIL if it dangled an attractive enough bait.
It’s also not a coincidence that the first statement given by the new CEM, Pyniaid Syiem is about being strict with the issuance of trading licenses to non-tribal business aspirants. Well, that’s also a huge revenue route for the Council along with the building permissions. Why have the Councils kept the issuance of trading license pending in some cases for years? Do they give reasons to the applicants? In the Government of India, any application for any clearance will be deemed to have been cleared if the department sits on a file. Should this same premise not be adopted in the Councils as well?
The question persists as to why the priority of the KHADC is the issuance of trade licenses. Is there nothing else that deserves its attention and priority? What have the Councils done by way of conserving the rivers, forests and minerals – all of which are within their ambit. Culture is inclusive of the environment and not apart from it. It is ironic that we have sacred groves but destroy other forests mercilessly. Are those other forests not sacred? Are they not catchments that provide us water? Why did the Umiam sink to its lowest this year? Will the KHADC spare some time to find out the reasons and the way forward by using the human resources and expertise of the state departments such as the Water Resources Department; the Mining & Geology Department; the Forest and Soil Conservation Department? Can the KHADC reply as to who granted the quarrying rights to a political elite in the MDA Government in the upper reaches of the Umkhen river across Umphyrnai? Has this not led to the slow death of the Umkhen River? This is just one example. There are many quarrying sites that have been responsible for the drying up of once swift flowing rivers. Have the ADCs then not failed big time?
Instead of engaging with these critical issues the ADCs come up with drafts acts that are aimed at disempowering women and putting a barricade on their choice of a life partner by seeking to disenfranchise a Khasi woman who marries a non-tribal. In this day and age, can any institution set barriers to such personal rights? These are issues that should be debated. Tradition cannot be used as a ruse to disempower women and set standards about their personal conduct such as the choice of a life partner.