India
Amit Shah Says NDA-Run States Will Introduce Uniform Civil Code Before 2029
State-by-state reform could reshape personal law and test federal limits.
State-by-state reform could reshape personal law and test federal limits.
Amit Shah’s call for -ruled states to move toward a common civil code puts the debate back at the center of a long-running constitutional and political fight. The BJP has framed the issue as reform, equality, and national integration, while critics see a push that could deepen uneven civil rights and test the limits of and personal law.
Amit Shah said in 21 states would introduce the before 2029. He framed the move as a broader reform covering marriage, divorce, , and , and presented state-level implementation as the route to national change.
Maharashtra became the ninth and -ruled state to announce plans for a law. The announcement showed how the was translating a national promise into a wider state-by-state strategy ahead of the .
The Assam Assembly passed a after opposition protest, making it the third state, after Uttarakhand and Gujarat, to approve such legislation. The bill sought a common legal framework for marriage, divorce, , and irrespective of religion, and opposition parties pressed for deeper scrutiny.
The and rights groups criticised the state-led UCC drive, arguing that it raised constitutional concerns over , equality, and . They also questioned the transparency of consultation processes and said the exercise risked becoming a procedural formality rather than genuine public deliberation.
Uttarakhand moved from passage to implementation, making the state the first to put a into practice. Supporters pointed to it as proof that personal law reform could be administered through a , while critics warned that the model could create uneven civil rights across India.
Uttarakhand became the first state since to enact a Uniform Civil Code, turning the long-running constitutional promise into an operational state law. The move gave the BJP a working template and intensified debate over whether could be advanced state by state.
A state-appointed committee led by retired Supreme Court judge submitted the before the was tabled in the Assembly. The draft became the first major state-level model for a BJP-led government to convert the UCC idea into a concrete legal text.
After the came to national power, the Uniform Civil Code returned as a recurring part of the party’s constitutional and ideological messaging. The issue was increasingly presented as a reform tied to , , and rather than only as a legal question.
The constitutional debate on a uniform civil code began in the , where , later , placed it among the . The provision framed UCC as a state objective, not an immediately enforceable right, and it has remained the key constitutional reference point in later political debates.