UNDERSTANDING POLITICAL OBLIGATION

IN THE LIGHT OF UNIFORM CIVIL CODE

A PERSPECTIVE

Himansh Wadhwa | Law, State And Politics

INTRODUCTION:
Political Philosophy has been preoccupied with understanding the concept of “Political
Obligation” As Obligation of the citizens to its sovereign state is a complex yet extremely
important concept to understand. As T.H. Green defines political obligation - “It is intended
to include the obligation of the subject towards the sovereign, the obligation of the citizen
towards the state, & the obligation of the individual to each other as enforced by a political
superior” It the latter part of this definition that my paper would round up in the end to
understand.

The word political in political obligation, denotes the legal-political framework that
ensures this obligation in a systematic form, it entails the policies and administration of the
government. This is where I wanted to shed light on the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) we are
constitutionally provided under article 44 of the Indian Constitution (Directive Principles
of State Policy). UCC has emerged to be a quarrelsome issue in India, UCC has been
proposed to replace the personal laws based on customs and scriptures of each religious
community in India with uniformity in governing each and every citizen. It States - “The
State shall endeavor to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory
of India.” Yet ever since the inception of our constitution no attempt has been made by the
Government of India for drafting a civil code of uniformity for the fear that political parties
may lose their Muslim votes, and other political motives such as fear of a majoritarian
outlook of civil laws, while suppressing group personal rights, has led to the delay in
formulation of a UCC.

A one sided view would be that UCC will eradicate differences and inequalities arising out
of personal laws and lessen if not extinguish inequality and discrimination faced by women
and minorities (because of archaic personal laws), in turn insuring legitimacy and support
for the sovereign, which in our case is the ruling party. Hence political obligation becomes
more centralized and uniform to its roots.

Another opinion, and one to which I give weightage is the miss-use of tools such as UCC
to create a de facto ethnic state, an ethnic state is one where an individual’s rights and
obligations, to a great extent, depend on his or her ethnicity. The problem with such a UCC
is the influence of Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) (Ruling Government) as BJP government
since 2014 has been influencing its saffron identity in close collaboration with the
Sangh parivar is seen as an unprecedented and deliberate attempt to change the very nature
of the Indian state. Hence ensuring political obligation on its own mandate, while
dismissing minority communities and any identity separate from Hindu identity, leading to
a disrupted pattern of legitimacy, and “ought” and “obliged” discrepancies in the populace.
While simultaneously brain washing the youth by interfering in educational curriculums to
ensure the ensuing of Hindutva identity and approval of BJP’s sovereignty. Leading to an
obligation, based on ethnicity rather than ideals and welfare(JUSTICE).

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BASIS OF POLITICAL OBLIGATION AND CONTENTIONS WITH
UCC:
A Just Democratic setup in itself becomes a rational ground for ensuring political
obligation on its citizenry, as the citizens due to procedural fairness and an overall belief
in the contract they have, which grants them rights becomes a legitimizing principle to
follow the dictates of the government so in charge of the state.

The general grounds for maintaining political obligation range from;

The citizen’s belief in the might of the state, and even if they hold rationales contrary to
the dictates of the state they do not act on them because the realize they cannot challenge
it successfully.

Secondly, the belief in rationality and usefulness of laws also fear of punishment, disorder
and anarchy. Keeps obligation in check. Also due to Habitual obedience and traditions play
an important role.

Yet there is limitation on these obligations which arise in a liberal democratic setup such
as ours. Which can be invoked to question this power ensured by legitimacy and exchange
of rights.

These limitations range from the strength and stability of the government in-charge, the
public opinion that is generated by its actions as the sovereign (As displeasing the people
will eventually lead to a retaliation damaging the political obligation) and self-evidently
the ambit of unjust/discriminatory laws, acts against the interest of minorities and the
importance of maintaining a dynamic society with rational laws.

The UCC and the debate surrounding it is crucial to our understanding of political
obligation, in the sense that its adoption will have multiple structural as well as ideological
effects. Maybe leading to a destabilizing effect on the political front of our country, and
that is why it is not been implemented but only debated as of now.

The question as to why UCC is in contestation with the grounds and limitation of political
obligation is centered around the fact that as T.H Green says ‘the obligation of the
individual to each other as enforced by a political superior’ the current government in India
can’t be trusted to institute a decent UCC. As it will heavily effect individual interaction
and personal practices, which will have an effect on ‘ought’ to act in certain ways. This
will remain so as long as equality and universalism are the aims. Given the ideological base
of the BJP, and looking at its actions so far, it is obvious that its pursuit of a UCC is not
driven by ‘progressive’ values or concerns about gender equality. Its main motive is most
likely a deeply-rooted resentment of Muslims and other minorities in India. Which goes
contrary to the limitations set by political obligation.

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However, some laws that personal laws protect are archaic and misogynist yet a UCC (of
this kind) would strip away a large part of what these minorities perceive as crucial
constitutional protections. Given recent trends in India, there is clearly a risk that a UCC
would, in fact, serve as a tool for the BJP to entrench an ethnic state, thereby instituting the
‘tyranny of the majority’.

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 REFERENCES:
 http://www.jusdicere.co.in/blog/uniform-civil-code-theory-and-practicality/
 http://14.139.60.114:8080/jspui/bitstream/123456789/12650/1/028_Uniform%20
Civil%20Code%20in%20India_A%20Binding%20Obligation%20under%20Inter
national%20and%20Domestic%20Law%20%28577-58.pdf
 http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/54472/11/11_chapter%204.pdf
 http://www.livemint.com/Sundayapp/yXcMGdlDJymHN9p61ZNtLN/Uniform-
rights-not-a-uniform-law.html
 http://racolblegal.com/uniform-civil-code-a-legal-overview/
 https://thewire.in/174280/behind-bjps-pursuit-uniform-civil-code-deep-rooted-
resentment-minorities/
 https://thewire.in/49580/bjp-uniform-civil-code/
 https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1956955.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3Ae39c0ae3a4
a8df3b682b81e6a77c1ad9

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