ASSAM: The Indian state of Assam has repealed an 89-year-old law that allowed marriages with Muslim minors, against opposition from minority community leaders who called the plan an attempt to polarize voters along religious lines ahead of elections.
Assam, which has the highest percentage of Muslims among Indian states at 34 percent, has previously said it wants to introduce uniform civil laws for marriage, divorce, adoption and inheritance, as Uttarakhand state did earlier this month.
Across the country, Hindus, Muslims, Christians and other groups follow their own laws and customs, or a secular code for those matters. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has promised a uniform civil code, which Muslims have opposed.
Assam has repealed the Assam Muslim Marriages and Divorces Registration Act, 1935 with effect from February 24, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma wrote on Saturday X.
“This Act contained a provision to allow marriages to be registered even if the bride and groom were below the legal age of 18 and 21 years respectively… This step marks another major step towards banning child marriage in Assam.”
Asked by Reuters on Sunday whether the northeastern state would introduce a uniform civil code ahead of general elections due in May, Sarma said: “Not immediately.”
Many Muslims in Assam trace their roots to the Bengali-speaking, Muslim-majority neighboring country of Bangladesh. Tensions often flare between Muslims and ethnic Assamese, who are mostly Hindu.
The BJP, the ruling party in Assam – and Uttarakhand – calls itself the champion of ethnic communities.
Muslim opposition leaders said the repeal of the colonial-era law was discriminatory.
“They want to polarize their voters by provoking Muslims, which Muslims will not allow,” Badruddin Ajmal, a lawmaker from Assam who heads the All India United Democratic Front, which fights mainly for Muslim causes, told reporters on Saturday.
“It is the first step towards the introduction of Uniform Civil Code, but this will end the BJP rule in Assam.
