The BJP minority morcha (front) has drawn up plans to reach out to opinion-makers and intellectuals in the Muslim community to discuss the benefits of a Uniform Civil Code (UCC), especially for the women in the community.

UCC has been a core agenda of the ruling party and some BJP-ruled states have promised to explore ways of implementing it.

Jamal Siddiqui, head of the BJP minority morcha, said a UCC will see the light of day soon. “Just as Article 370 was abrogated without much opposition, UCC too will be implemented. Article 370 had lost most of its relevance years before it was annulled,” he said, adding that many Muslim personal law provisions which were archaic have already been done away with.

Triple talaq has been banned by law and there is a raging debate on wearing a hijab in certain institutions. UCC will specially benefit women from the minority community as it removes patriarchal biases in personal laws regarding adoption, inheritance and marriage rights, according to the BJP.

“We intend to inform the elite Muslims and intellectuals that UCC will make adoption easy for childless couples,” BJP Minority Morcha spokesperson Yasser Jilani told ET. “The inheritance rights will also include women and will be on the basis of secular laws. Thirdly, UCC will lead to women’s empowerment as it will stop the provision where a man can have four wives. Even as per Sharia, a man is required to treat all his wives equally and not discriminate. Women will get property rights.”

On June 14, the 22nd Law Commission invited religious groups and the public to share their views on UCC. Many believe that the BJP government at the Centre will try to implement UCC throughout the country before the 2024 general election to polarise the electorate. Article 44 of the Indian Constitution states that the country should have a UCC. Since it is part of Directive Principles of State Policy at present, UCC is not enforceable.The BJP had announced during the assembly elections in Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Karnataka that it will implement UCC. Jamaat-e-Ulema-e-Hind and All India Muslim Personal Law Board have opposed UCC and said it cannot be implemented in a diverse country like India.Regressive remarks against women by Muslim clerics have fanned the demand for UCC. Some clerics were of the view that girls from the minority community should not be sent to educational institutions that ban the hijab.

After triple talaq was made illegal, the BJP feels UCC will further help it to get support of women from the minority community.

The BJP minority morcha is currently engaged in the drive “Modi Mitra (friends of Modi)” to win over professionals such as doctors, engineers, lawyers as well as intellectuals and influential people within the Muslim community.