Kozhikode: A panel of 20 leaders, cutting across political parties and religious organisations, slammed the BJP-led Union government for "trying to divide the country" by bringing in a uniform civil code.
They were speaking at a public seminar on 'Uniform Civil Code: Unseen Agenda of Polarisation' organised by the Muslim Coordination Committee, a frontal organisation of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), in Kozhikode on Wednesday.
Sayyid Sadik Ali Shihab Thangal
The BJP government believed it can divide society and benefit from it by bringing in UCC. "But the announcement to implement a uniform civil code united society. United India. United the people," said IUML state president Sayyid Sadik Ali Shihab Thangal.
Our nationality and diversity are mutually complementary. Our nationality will be in danger if our diversity is in danger, and our diversity will be in danger if our nationality is in danger, he said. "We will have to safeguard both," Sadik Ali said.
He then compared UCC to the Procrustean bed, named after the robber in Greek mythology. "Procrustes will drag in his victims walking on the road and force them to lie on his bed. If the victims are longer than the bed, he would cut their legs to fit them to the bed; if they are shorter, Procrustes would stretch them by hammering their bodies to fit them to the size of the bed. Then he would say how perfect is the bed," said Sadik Ali, presiding over the seminar.
India has different religions, different castes, different cultures, and rituals. The beauty of India is to accept the differences.
Instead, the government is acting like Procrustes by trying to eliminate or flatten the differences, he said.
Ma Subramanian
Tamil Nadu Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ma Subramanian inaugurated the seminar.
He said UCC is against India's Unity in diversity. "Protests against it are growing in Tamil Nadu," he said.
P K Kunhalikutty
When the Prime Minister made the speech announcing UCC, he thought he can position one community as the enemy on the opposite side and reap political gain, said IUML general secretary and MLA P K Kunhalikutty.
But the reactions came from unexpected quarters. People realised today, they will move against one community, and tomorrow, another community will be their target. "We are seeing that in Manipur," he said.
The political parties who oppose UCC came together in Bengaluru and formed a political alliance called INDIA, he said. "This move (to bring in UCC) will be defeated. For that, we have to build a consensus. State politics and state issues will be different. But at the national level, all should unite against the autocratic tendencies, the tendencies to split India," Kunhalikutty said.
Sayyid Muhammad Jifri Muthukkoya Thangal
It gave us happiness that all opposition parties stood together for Manipur, said Sayyid Muhammad Jifri Muthukkoya Thangal, president of Samastha Kerala Jem'iyyathul Ulema, an organisation of Sunni scholars. "There is a fear that what happened in Manipur can spread to other states," he said.
There will be an attempt to torpedo the unity and communal harmony of the country, he said.
K T Kunhikannan, CPM
UCC is a Hindutva agenda to divide the country. Since 2014, the BJP is forcefully driving the divisive agenda in the country, said CPM's Kozhikode district committee member K T Kunhikannan. "That's what Manipur is telling us," he said.
The Meitei Leepun in Manipur is a supremacist organistaion like the Bajrang Dal, he said. "The chief of Meitei Leepun Pramot Singh said Manipur is 'the last outpost of the purest form of Hinduism'. We have to fear this call for racial purity. We have seen what it can do in Germany," he said.
V T Balram, Congress
The PM revived the UCC debate, laid to rest by the 21st Law Commission, at a booth-level meeting of the BJP in Madhya Pradesh, said Congress state vice-president V T Balram.
It is a polarising agenda, it is a diversionary tactic. "If livelihood issues are the topics of discussions, if inflation, unemployment, unsecured borders, and corruption issues such as the 40% commission for projects are discussed, the result will be what we saw in Karnataka," he said.
Balram said the term uniform civil code has become irrelevant. Already, BJP MP Sushil Kumar Modi, the chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law, has said tribespeople should be kept out of UCC, northeastern states, and Goa will be kept out; chief ministers and Union ministers have said UCC won't be one code for all the 140 crore people.
"Sangh Parivar's hidden agenda is coming out. If in the name of the Uniform Civil Code, they try to bring in an anti-Muslim civil code, we will not allow it," he said.
The only way to stop UCC is by bringing down Narendra Modi in 2024, he said.
Dr P K Fasal Gafoor, educationist
Dr P K Fasal Gafoor, founder-president of Muslim Educational Society, said the UCC would not be a reality but those opposing it were playing into the hands of the BJP by keeping the discussion on it alive. "We should not get worked up. Don't be afraid. When opposition parties are ruling in 17 states, they cannot bring in UCC," he said.
This law should go through those states and several courts. "Don't make noise and increase the polarisation. Better to end such programmes," he said.
No one spoke on gender equality
The 20 invited speakers were male. And none of them spoke on the need for gender equality in personal and family law.
Some of the speakers were CPI leader Adv P Gavas; Jacobite bishop and Metropolitan of Kozhikode Diocese Paulose Mor Irenious; T P Abdulla Koya Madani, president Kerala Nadvathul Mujahideen (KNM); Dr K S Madavan of Calicut University; C P Ummer Sullami of KNM; P N Abdul Latheef Madan, president of Wisdom Islamic Organisation; P Mujeeb Rahman, Ameer, Jamaat-e-Islami Kerala; Father Sunil Joy, vicar-general of St Paul Mar Thoma Church, Kozhikode; and Abdul Shakoor Kasmi, member of Muslim Personal Board.
