The Law Commission of India has concluded consultation with citizens and civil society groups on a common civil code. The commission will submit its report and recommendations to the Union government, which will have the final say. Though the government is unlikely to present a draft bill before the general elections due next year, the uniform civil code will likely become a topic of debate in the run-up to the general elections.

If passed, a uniform civil code will mark a distinct shift in the Indian state’s relationship with its citizens. Whether under the British rule or in independent India, various religious communities have always been governed by their personal laws on marriage, family and inheritance, which varied significantly. During the British times, reform attempts were made occasionally by raising the age of consent, but the personal laws were largely left untouched. A uniform code on the lines of Great Britain or France was simply out of the question for such a vast country with so many different people.

Following independence, there was a desire for a uniform civil code in a section of the constituent assembly inspired by the Western democracies from where the Indian constitution drew heavily. BR Ambedkar advocated it, though he didn’t want this to be made compulsory at the time. However, it did not materialise due to the opposition from both minority and Hindu groups and the challenges facing the young nation. Instead, the uniform civil code was included as a directive principle of state policy, unenforceable and left to the wisdom of future governments on how they wanted to deal with it.

Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru proposed the reformed Hindu Civil Code in 1955. However, similar works weren’t undertaken for Muslims or Christians because it was felt that they were not yet ready. Muslim laws did not undergo any significant reform, unlike in other Islamic countries. Thus, practices like polygamy and instant divorce, prohibited or restricted in many Islamic countries, remained part of Indian Muslim family law. Any outside attempts at reforms were viewed as interference with divine laws.

Given the strong opposition from Muslims and other minority and tribal groups, the Congress party has historically preferred to put the issue on the back burner, not wanting to antagonise them. However, what was originally a liberal undertaking found new backers. The Hindu right resented the fact that only the Hindu code was subjected to reform by the Parliament. They insisted on a uniform civil code not because it would equalise all citizens but because it would end what they saw as concessions made to minority groups. The enactment of a uniform civil code has prominently figured in the election manifesto of the right-wing ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the years. In this light, the current exercise must be seen as the fulfilment of a long-held promise by the ruling party.

A wide-ranging discussion and consensus-building should have accompanied such an important undertaking. However, there has been none of that, save the proposals sought by the Law Commission, which appears perfunctory in nature. Minorities fear losing the constitutional guarantee to freely practise their faith. The track record of the various BJP governments in the States and at the centre gives them little comfort. For instance, several BJP-ruled states have enacted so-called “love jihad” laws in the past few years, making it difficult for interfaith couples to marry. Another set of laws known as “freedom of religion” requires advance notification from people wanting to change their religion. Such restrictive laws are diametrically opposed to the liberal spirit underlying a uniform civil code.

Likewise, Karnataka and other states barred hijab-wearing Muslim girls from college classrooms. When the Supreme Court outlawed the triple talaq method of divorcing in 2020, the Modi government quickly introduced a law criminalising it, widely regarded as unnecessary and excessive. There is a trust gap, and the government has not tried to bridge it.

Nobody knows what a common civil code would look like. One may surmise that it will target polygamy (which, though infrequent and associated with Muslims, is equally prevalent in all communities) and unequal inheritance of wealth. Various proposals have been put forth.

A section of liberal voices wants to do away with all laws detrimental to women’s rights in every religion and form laws that satisfy the basic requirements of gender justice and equality. This would mean removing not only the perceived unjust provisions of Muslim law but also several provisions of the Hindu and Christian codes that favour males in inheritance matters. The provisions related to the preferential tax treatment of Hindu undivided family (HUF), used as a tax planning tool available only to Hindus, would also go. However, such a far-reaching reform is unlikely to find favour with the general Indian public. It is unlikely, for instance, that people would accept that the religious wedding ceremony they underwent was without legal sanction in the absence of a civil ceremony.

Another section favours retaining personal laws with reformations that exclude discriminatory practices. They opine that, unlike in homogeneous Western countries, uniformity cannot be a goal in itself, given the diversity of India. This was also the stand taken by the previous consultation of the Law Commission in 2018 when it said that it was dealing with “laws that are discriminatory rather than providing a uniform civil code, which is neither necessary nor desirable at this stage”.

However, no consultative steps were undertaken aimed at removing the discriminatory laws. The only major reform in recent times was the outlawing of triple talaq by the Supreme Court. Even a limited review would likely elicit resistance from the Muslim side, partly owing to the distrust of the government and then to the lack of representation of progressive voices within the community. However, it would not have been insurmountable had the government acted with sufficient empathy and trust.

We are left with the prospects of a uniform civil code imposed from above. It will please a section of the ruling party’s core electorate and be resented by the minorities. Whichever form it adopts, its ultimate success will depend on how much millions of Indians are willing to change their patriarchal mindset and embrace true gender and social equality.