The Uniform Civil Code and the Oppression of Muslim Women in India

News:

The Indian ruling party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), proposed the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Comment:

In India, Muslim women are once again becoming the target of the political agenda of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The proposal for a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) is nothing more than a renewed attempt to further control the lives of Muslim women and restrict their Islamic practices.

The UCC, proposed by the BJP and radical Hindu groups, aims to enforce a Uniform Civil Code that entails a common set of laws governing personal matters such as marriage, divorce, adoption, inheritance, and succession for all citizens of the country, based on Hindu norms.

The Muslim community in India has faced severe discrimination and oppression for centuries. With the implementation of the UCC, the personal laws that govern the family rights of Muslims would be abolished, while the customary laws and rituals of tribal Hindu communities would be reaffirmed. This is nothing more than an attempt to erase the Islamic identity and traditions and assimilate Muslims into the dominant Hindu norms imposed by the state.

The BJP and its Hindu nationalist agenda have always focused on marginalizing Muslims in India. They have presented the UCC as a solution to alleged problems within the Muslim community, such as polygamy and divorce. However, polygamy is not a widespread practice among Muslims, as evidenced by the statistics from the 2006 National Family Health Survey.

It is clear that the UCC is not designed to "empower Muslim women," as some proponents claim. Instead, it is a tool in the hands of Hindu nationalists to oppress Muslim women and force them to comply with Hindu norms enshrined in national legislation.

Furthermore, the BJP has historically used the "Muslim woman" as a focal point in its supremacist project. By creating an image of Muslim men as a threat to the Hindu nation, they have attempted to strengthen control over the Muslim community and portray Muslim women as helpless victims in need of rescue. It seems they have adopted these repressive and misleading tactics from their counterparts in the West.

The future prospects for Muslims in India are worrisome. These ongoing attacks on the Muslim community and its cultural identity will only be intensified. The silence of leaders in the Muslim world as well as the corrupted scholars who distort the oppression of tyrants against Muslims will only embolden these polytheists. Figures like Sheikh Al-Issa, the chief of the Muslim World League, recently visited a Hindu temple in India and praised the country as a great example of unity in diversity. He claimed that Muslims in India are proud of the Indian constitution and praised Modi's commitment to inclusive growth. However, Al-Issa failed to address the escalating anti-Muslim violence, discrimination, and anti-Islamic policies in the country.

The only solution for Muslims in India and the rest of the world is the reunification of the Muslim Ummah under one political leadership: the righteous Caliphate (Khilafah ar Rashidah). Only then can we implement Islam and protect it, ensuring that the dignity, honor, and blood of Muslims are respected and safeguarded.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Okay Pala
Media Representative of Hizb ut Tahrir in The Netherlands