Kerala Guv talks about UCC; asks 'Why do Muslims migrate to countries with no Muslim personal law?’

Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan defended the hotly contested Uniform Civil Code (UCC), claiming that many political parties, including those on the Left, had proposed it. He further clarified that the UCC's sole goal was to bring about uniformity of justice, not to bring about uniformity of practices, rites, or customs.

As a minister in Rajiv Gandhi's government, Khan made a powerful statement in Lok Sabha in August 1985 in support of an apex court ruling in the Shah Bano case that upheld the need for alimony payment to divorced wives of Muslim husbands. When the Rajiv government chose to go back on its stand, instead introducing a bill to nullify the judgement, Khan resigned promptly, the News Minute reported.

The Governor said that various Left parties supported UCC "at least until 1990" in interviews with numerous media sources, including News18, India Today, and ANI. He clarified that he was not endorsing any one political party and said, “There are political parties in India who had UCC always in their election manifesto, and BJP was not the only one. The Left parties were also great advocates of the implementation of UCC. You can check their old manifestos. I don’t think that this question should be asked of a party which is taking a consistent line that they will implement the constitutional directive if they come to power, but should be posed to those who changed their stand, and they should explain why they did so.”

Recalling his own resignation over the Shah Bano matter, he said that EMS Namboodiripad, a former chief minister of Kerala and CPI(M) leader, had been the most outspoken advocate for the judgement. He cited the Shah Bano event and the CPM's position at the time when it was pointed out that many political leaders, including Kerala's chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, were terming the UCC as discriminatory against Muslims.

Speaking to News18, he also questioned why Muslims moved to nations without Muslim personal laws, such as the US and Europe. “If Muslim Personal Law is so integral to the practice of Islam, why don’t Muslims take a stand and issue a fatwa that no one from the community should live in countries where this law is not implemented? Why does everyone want to run to the US or Europe where there are no personal laws? Muslims can live as Muslims in the US and UK or Pakistan without personal law, but India is the only exception where they cannot if personal law is not there,” he jibed.