Shillong, Sep 15: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma has said that any discussion on implementing a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the state must take into account its tribal and matrilineal character, while stressing the need to consult the public and stakeholders before taking a decision.
Sangma was responding to reports that Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said the UCC would be introduced in all states by 2029.
“If you recall, in my opening remarks when I talked about UCC, I had said that as a concept, UCC being applied to India is something that does not make sense to me,” Sangma said.
However, he said the Centre’s reported position that the UCC would be state-specific had changed the nature of the discussion.
“Now, in fact, if you look at the UCC for Meghalaya, it’s a tribal UCC, if it comes. And the system is going to be something that’s going to be more like a matrilineal society,” he said.
Sangma said it would be wrong to presume the contents of a proposed law or arrive at conclusions before seeing the actual Bill.
He said that if a national law were to make all communities follow a matrilineal system, Meghalaya would be among the happiest states to accept it. However, he acknowledged that such a system may not be acceptable to all communities living in the state.
“If we put in our UCC tomorrow that from now on every community is going to be matrilineal in Meghalaya, I think a lot of other communities who don’t follow the matrilineal system may not be very comfortable with that,” he said.
The chief minister said the state must first discuss whether it wants to implement the UCC and, if so, what kind of legal framework would be suitable.
“We are to take the public into confidence. We have to discuss with stakeholders, political parties and, more importantly, communities,” he said.
Sangma said Meghalaya’s predominantly tribal population must be considered while framing any such law, but added that the state also has different communities with different social and customary practices.
“Should we do it or not? Well, let’s talk about it. Let’s discuss it. I think there’s no harm in discussing and taking views from people,” he said.
