Swami Defends Uniform Civil Code

India is considering the adoption of a Uniform Civil Code that would replace a multitude of religious laws which apply only to the adherents of particular religions. Many Muslims oppose such a change because it means that they would no longer be able to impose Islamic law on people. Many right-wing Hindus support a common code of laws because they hope that they might be able to use this to limit religious freedom.

Swami Dayananda Saraswathi defends the prospect of a Uniform Civil Code by saying:

The integrity and security of any society, whether as small as a family unit or as large as the global community, is deeply threatened by double standards. They offend our innate sense of fairness; they undermine our natural parity of identity with our fellow human beings, setting individual against individual, community against community, nation against nation. Double standards are the main building blocks of every racist ideology and system. One has to numb the human heart to entertain the idea that double standards are acceptable in the human community. This innate understanding of every human being is, however, challenged by the frailties of the human heart. The fact is, there are double standards in every sector of our life - and all the strife that they engender.

India needs a Uniform Civil Code for just such reasons - there shouldn't be double standards applied to people in the same society. To stand up as a single, developed nation India needs a single, developed set of laws. At the same time, no common set of laws will work so long as such a system is advocated by a right-wing group that shows little interest in developing consensus and compromise.

Read More:

• Religion in India
• Religious Tensions in India