RSS affiliate welcomes Sushil Kumar Modi’s stand to keep tribal communities out of UCC ambit

The Akhil Bharatiya Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, the tribal wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, on Saturday welcomed the stand of Bharatiya Janata Party MP Sushil Kumar Modi to keep tribal communities out of a Uniform Civil Code.

A Uniform Civil Code involves a common set of laws governing marriage, divorce, succession and adoption for all Indians. Currently, different religious communities are governed by their own codes of personal law.

The BJP has claimed that the aim of such uniformity is to ensure equality and justice for women in particular, who are often denied their rights in marriage, divorce and inheritance under patriarchal personal laws.

On June 14, the Law Commission sought views on the matter from citizens and religious groups. Less than two weeks later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that India needed a common civil code as the country could not run with the dual system of “separate laws for separate communities”.

In a statement, the Akhil Bharatiya Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram on Saturday backed Sushil Kumar Modi, chairperson of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law.

During a meeting with Law Commission members and colleagues of the parliamentary committee last week, Modi reportedly questioned the feasibility of implementing a common civil code since the customs of the tribal population in the North East and other parts of India...

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