Backing the much-debated Uniform Civil Code (UCC), Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan stated that the proposal for UCC had been put forth by multiple political parties, including those on the Left. He also added that the objective of the UCC was not to bring about uniformity of customs, rituals or practices, but only about bringing uniformity of justice.
It may be recalled here that as a minister in the Rajiv Gandhi cabinet, Khan gave a stirring speech in the Lok Sabha in August 1985, defending the apex court judgement in the Shah Bano case that upheld the need for alimony payment to the divorced wives of Muslim husbands. When the Rajiv government chose to go back on its stand, instead introducing a bill to nullify the judgement, Khan resigned promptly.
In his interviews to multiple media outlets, including News18, India Today and ANI, the Governor said that many Left parties were advocates of UCC “at least till 1990”. Stating that he was not defending any political party, he noted, “There are political parties in India who had UCC always in their election manifesto, and BJP was not the only one. The Left parties were also great advocates of implementation of UCC. You can check their old manifestos. I don’t think that this question should be asked of a party which is taking a consistent line that they will implement the constitutional directive if they come to power, but should be posed to those who changed their stand, and they should explain why they did so.”
Recalling his own resignation on the Shah Bano issue, he said that the most vocal supporter of the judgement was former Kerala CM and CPI(M) leader EMS Namboodiripad. When pointed out that many political leaders, including Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, were terming the UCC as discriminatory against Muslims, he referred to the Shah Bano episode and the stand of the CPM then.
Speaking to News18, he also wanted to know why Muslims migrated to countries like the US and Europe where there were no Muslim Personal Laws. “If Muslim Personal Law is so integral to the practice of Islam, why don’t Muslims take a stand and issue a fatwa that no one from the community should live in countries where this law is not implemented? Why does everyone want to run to the US or Europe where there are no personal laws? Muslims can live as Muslims in the US and UK or in Pakistan without personal law, but India is the only exception where they cannot if personal law is not there,” he jibed.