Ghosh - The politics of personal law in South Asia : identity, nationalism and the uniform civil code

The viability of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) has always been a bone of contention in socially and politically plural South Asia. It is entangled within the polemics of identity politics, minority rights, womens rights, national integration, uniform citizenry and, of late, global Islamic politics and universal human rights. While champions of each category view the issue from their own perspectives, making the debate extremely complex, this book takes up the challenge of providing a holistic political analysis.

As most of the South Asian states today subscribe to a decentralised view and share a common history, this study is an excellent comparative analysis of the applicability of the UCC. In this work, India figures prominently, being the most plural and vibrant democracy, as well as accounting for almost three-fourths of the regions population. This provides the backdrop for an analysis of the other states in the region.

This second edition will be indispensable for scholars, researchers and students of law, political science and South Asian Studies.

Partha S. Ghosh is Senior Fellow at the Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi, India. Formerly, he was Professor of South Asian Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; Senior Fellow at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library; ICCR Chair Professor at the Victoria University; Visiting Professor/Humboldt Fellow at Heidelberg University; and Ford Scholar at the University of Illinois. He had a long stint as Research Director at the Indian Council of Social Science Research. His most recent books are BJP and the Evolution of Hindu Nationalism: Savarkar to Vajpayee to Modi (2017) and Migrants, Refugees and the Stateless in South Asia (2016). He has contributed chapters to many edited volumes and published extensively in professional journals, magazines and newspapers.

This book is important because it helps us understand the complex political choices that might be made in the area of personal law in South Asia.

Muneer Mustafa, Contemporary South Asia,
18(3), September 2010

For Professors B. K. Shrivastava, Dietmar Rothermund, Kingsley de Silva and Stephen P. Cohen, all of whom helped me significantly at different stages of my academic life. As a token of my gratitude and affection I dedicate this book to them

It is politics, stupid. That is exactly what it is. Nothing else can explain why in spite of so much hullaballoo about the introduction of a uniform civil code (UCC) it is only blare, no legislative action. As the interconnected issue of personal law/UCC has much to do with Indian politics, which almost always veers round the HinduMuslim question, it will be interesting to watch what will happen to the subject now that the Hindu nationalistic Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in power, not merely as leading partner in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) but as a party with an absolute majority in the Lok Sabha (lower house). Ruling in 18 of the 29 states, NDA will soon become the majority coalition in the Rajya Sabha (upper house). Although the political climate in India changes like mountain clouds, all indicators suggest that BJP will win the 2019 election. With such political confidence at command, the question is will the party enact a UCC, one of its avowed commitments from the beginning? The first edition of the book (2007) tried to answer the question. But at that time BJP was not as self-assured a party as it is now. It is, therefore, important to take the story forward through this second edition particularly because its powerful leader, Narendra Modi, is committed to a new India, an important pillar of which is a uniform civil code for the entire country. But are there straws in the wind pointing to that direction?

Our argument in the volume is that in spite of its high-pitched rhetoric to have such a code, when it boils down to actual legislative action BJP will find discretion the better part of valour. The beauty of the situation is that it will still serve the partys drive to consolidate its Hindu base, for the more it corners the Muslims as a retrograde and socially backward people, the better it feeds into its Hindu constituency. In this hype, who cares to realise that a UCC must necessarily mean an end to all customary and social laws. Leave alone Indias numerous tribes which have their constitutionally guaranteed customary laws, many Hindu, Muslim and Christian caste groups also have their own laws. Even Parsis and Goan Hindus have their own laws. In Bangladesh and Pakistan, Indias two comparable neighbours in this setting where Muslim majorities are pitted against Hindu minorities, it is the mirror image of India. There the Hindus, who cling to their personal law, are accused of being antireform, while Muslims are seen as reform friendly.

In bringing out this volume, many people have helped me in one way or the other. Though the list is long, some names must be remembered with profound gratitude. They are: Ajay Mehra, Faizan Mustafa, Hasnuzzaman (Bangladesh), Jehangir Patel, Indra Kaul, Indu Agnihotri, Mitra Sharafi, Mukesh Khatwani (Pakistan), Neera Chandhoke, Nutan Johry, Rasul Bakhsh Rais (Pakistan), Rohit De, Shiraz Patodia, Vikash Kumar and Zoya Hasan. My thanks also go to Shoma Choudhury and Shashank Shekhar Sinha of Routledge, who convinced me of the necessity of the study. I also thank the Routledge production team and their copyeditor for her/his thoughtful editorial dashes.