Aiming to divide voters along religious lines before of elections, representatives of the minority community opposed the 89-year-old law that permitted marriages between minors and Muslims, which Assam state in India repealed.
With 34% of its population Muslim, Assam is the most Muslim-populated state in India. The state has previously expressed its desire to adopt universal civil rules pertaining to marriage, divorce, adoption, and inheritance, similar to what Uttarakhand did earlier this month.
Religions such as Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, and others have their own rules and practices, or a secular code, that they adhere to across the country. Muslims are against the Uniform Civil Code, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has pledged.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma of Assam announced on X on Saturday that the state had repealed the Assam Muslim Marriages and Divorces Registration Act, 1935, with effect from February 24.
“Parts of this statute permitted marriage registration even in cases when the bride and husband were not of legal age (18 and 21)… This action is a crucial step closer to Assam’s ban on child marriages.
When Reuters asked the northeastern state on Sunday if it will adopt a Uniform Civil Code prior to the May general elections, Sarma replied, “Not immediately.”
Many Muslims in Assam can trace their ancestry to Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority country that is neighboring and speaks Bengali. The Muslims and the predominantly Hindu Assamese people frequently experience tension.
The Assamese and Uttarakhand ruling party, the BJP, portrays itself as the defender of ethnic communities.
Opposition Muslim leaders said it was discriminatory to abolish the law from the colonial era.
The leader of the All India United Democratic Front, an Assamese MP that mostly advocates for Muslim interests, Badruddin Ajmal, told reporters on Saturday that “they want to polarize their voters by provoking Muslims, which Muslims will not let happen.”
“This is the first step towards implementing a Uniform Civil Code, but it also marks the end of the BJP government in Assam.”
