The idea of a Uniform Civil Code: What Indians at large think of it

livemint.com:

There is a possibility of the issue of a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) becoming an important electoral issue during the forthcoming assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and of course during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. In a public rally in the capital of Madhya Pradesh, Bhopal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, placing emphasis on the need for a UCC, said “How can the country be run on two (laws)? The Constitution also talks of equal rights… The Supreme Court has also asked the government to implement UCC." Evidence from surveys conducted by Lokniti-CSDS over a period of time indicates increasing support for uniform laws for people of all religious communities.

In 2004, in a national survey, 27% of respondents supported the idea of a uniform laws for people of all religious communities, while 53% were of the opinion that people of different religions should be allowed to follow their own laws with regard to marriage and property. But in 2017, support uniform laws increased to 38%, while those supporting the idea of people of different religion having their own laws on marriage and property declined to 47% (see Table 1).

The reason for UCC support is very simple: a large number of Indians believe that the law of the land should be equal for every citizen living in the country and people of different religions should not be allowed to have their own laws for marriage and property. While there is increasing public support for the idea of a UCC for all Indians, as seen in survey results, this opinion is not shared equally among citizens belonging to all religious communities.