Northeastern States Unite Against Uniform Civil Code! BJP's Allies and Opposition Parties Rally Against UCC Implementation

Uniform Civil Code: In the northeastern region, where members of the Hindu, Christian, and Muslim populations are represented in respectable numbers, most non-BJP parties, including the saffron party's allies, oppose the Uniform Civil Code (UCC). Similar to the CAA, the UCC is fiercely opposed by the Mizoram National Front (MNF), the Congress, and minor parties like the Zoram Peoples Movement (ZPM), Mizoram People's Conference (MPC), and other non-political organisations. Before the Covid-19 pandemic began in 2020, anti-CAA protests had first begun in Assam, some of West Bengal, and other northeastern regions in 2019. They had lasted until 2020.

Opposition Mounts Against Uniform Civil Code Implementation

At least five people were killed during the anti-CAA rallies in Assam, which also saw widespread violence and a curfew imposed for many days. Various northeastern states are still seeing intermittent CAA protests. Mizoram, Meghalaya, and Nagaland, three states with a predominance of the Christian religion and tribalism, have all voiced strong resistance to the intended implementation of the UCC. Strongly rejecting the proposed bill, the Mizoram Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) emphasised the need for a coordinated opposition. Ronald Sapa Tlau, a senior member of the Congress party and a former Rajya Sabha member, stated that state party president Lalsawta will send a letter to the Law Commission of India opposing to the UCC.

Mizoram Congress Stands Against Uniform Civil Code

“The Congress party invites people of all sections in Mizoram to join hands in opposing the UCC and the BJP to safeguard India’s culture and religion,” Tlau said. In response to the MNF's claim that the Mizoram people will be protected by article 371G of the Indian Constitution, he remarked that the BJP government at the centre cannot be trusted. The Congress leader argued that everyone in the state should oppose the proposal to enact the proposed UCC in order to defend and preserve our cultural and religious identity. According to the former legislator, the UCC's implementation would lead to the subjugation of minorities and minority religious communities and possibly their integration by the majority community, which would be harmful to the integrity and unity of the nation.

Churches, Assembly, and Chief Minister Express Concerns

The Mizoram Synod of the Presbyterian Church of India and the state's dominant churches, the Mizoram Kohhran Hruaitute Committee (MKHC), have already expressed their opposition to the UCC's implementation to the Law Commission of India. On February 14 of this year, the Mizoram Assembly approved a motion condemning the UCC that was put out by Home Minister Lalchamliana. “That this House unanimously resolved to oppose any steps taken or proposed to be taken for enactment of UCC in India,” the resolution had said. In a letter to the Law Commission dated July 4, Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga, who is also the president of the governing MNF, claimed that his party had thought that the adoption of UCC is not in the best interests of the Mizos in particular or the ethnic minorities of India as a whole. The UCC, if enacted, “would disintegrate the country as it was an attempt to terminate the religious or social practices, customary laws, culture and traditions of the religious minorities, including the Mizos.”

BJP in Mizoram Rejects UCC, Citing Multireligious Nature of Northeast

The Mizoram branch of the BJP also rejected the UCC. The UCC should never be adopted in the northeastern states, according to state BJP president Vanlalhmuaka, in order to preserve the area's multireligious nature. Analysts claim that the CAA is the first piece of law to grant citizenship based on religion, sparking strong opposition across the nation, particularly in the northeast. The CAA aims to provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslim minorities, including Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians, who have fled persecution in their home countries of Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan as of December 31, 2014. Both Houses of Parliament approved it, and the President signed it in December 2019. However, the CAA's guidelines have yet to be developed.

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