Why diversity can’t be used in defence of obsolete ways

livemint.com:

Is there only one way to be good? This is the question of the season, as politicians preparing for general elections next year measure the interest of Hindu society in reforming other people, a process that is not without a bit of torment. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed a desire to end or dilute personal laws that let religious traditions govern important aspects of domestic life, like the exclusivity of marriage, divorce and inheritance, generally favouring men. Over the decades, Hindu reformation has ensured that most Hindus enjoy or endure modern laws that deem men and women equal.

They have agreed to consider caste discrimination illegal, unless it is used to favour ‘lower castes’, and Hindu men have conceded vast ground to Hindu women. But Indians of other faiths, especially Muslims, have markedly different rules for marriage, divorce and inheritance. A Muslim man can take four wives, negotiate a favourable alimony, divorce easily and expect to inherit a disproportionate share of property.

This has for long annoyed Hindu men. Muslim women would have never guessed so many Hindus wish them well. Bringing Muslims into the fold of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) has for long been the political desire of an unknowable proportion of Hindus.

But it involves the inconvenience of forcing hundreds of tribes to abide by the same, which has little emotional resonance among the majority but is needed for the spectacle of national reformation. Opposition to a UCC has two faces—one that is emotional and the other that is esoteric. The primary defence of the clergy and other conservatives who benefit from existing personal laws is that the influence of religion in their domestic life is the core of their religious