Supporting the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in Assam, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Saturday, 30 April, that no Muslim woman wanted her husband to have three other wives.
"Everybody wants UCC. No Muslim woman wants her husband to bring home three other wives. Ask any Muslim woman," he said.
Sarma also said that if Muslim women were to be given justice, then the implementation of the UCC in the state was a must.
"UCC is not my issue, it is an issue for all Muslim women. If they are to be given justice, after the scrapping of triple talaq, UCC will have to be brought," he added.
Govt Will Decide Who Is An Indigenous Muslim, Who Is a Migrant: Sarma
The chief minister further said that the state government would decide who was an indigenous Muslim and who was a migrant.
"(The state government) will take the decision in the future regarding who is an indigenous Muslim and who is a migrant Muslim. No opposition to this in Assam. They know the difference, it has to be given an official form," news agency ANI quoted Sarma as saying.
Sarma also said that indigenous Muslims did not want to be associated with migrant Muslims. "The Muslim community in Assam has one religion, but culture and origin have two different sections. One of them is indigenous to Assam and has no history of migration in the last 200 years. That section does not want to be mixed with migrated Muslims and be given a separate identity."
Earlier, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami had said that his government would create a committee to implement the UCC in the state. "The state cabinet unanimously approved that a committee (of experts) will be constituted at the earliest and it will be implemented in the state. This will be the first state to do so."
The UCC aims to implement common personal laws for all citizens, irrespective of their religion, sex, gender, etc. Currently, the personal laws of different communities are governed on the basis of their religious texts.
(With inputs from ANI.)
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