Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said that a Uniform Civil Code would be introduced in Assam if the Bharatiya Janata Party retains power in the state in the Assembly elections, The Hindu reported.
Speaking at a poll rally in Nalbari district, the BJP leader said that the code would also contain a provision to ban polygamy. “The move is aimed at bringing uniformity in civil laws and strengthening social reforms in Assam,” the newspaper quoted him as saying.
The polls will be held on April 9 and the votes will be counted on May 4.
The Uniform Civil Code refers to a common set of laws governing marriage, divorce, succession and adoption for all citizens. Currently, such personal affairs of different religious and tribal groups are based on community-specific laws, largely derived from religious scripture.
The introduction of a common personal law has for long been on the BJP’s agenda and several states ruled by the party have been making advances towards implementing it.
In January 2025, BJP-ruled Uttarakhand became the first state to implement the Uniform Civil Code after independence. The Gujarat Assembly cleared a similar legislation on March 24 amid protests by the Opposition. A common civil code has been in place in Goa since the Portuguese Civil Code was adopted in 1867.
In its campaign for the Uniform Civil Code in Uttarakhand, the BJP had mainly targeted Muslim personal law, arguing that it discriminated against women as it allows Muslim men to practice polygamy, inherit a greater share of property, initiate divorce and deny alimony.
Legal experts have said that Uttarakhand’s Uniform Civil Code is drawn primarily from Hindu personal law and could lead to the erasure of the personal law practices of minority communities.
In addition, the Assam Assembly had in November passed the 2025 Assam Prohibition of Polygamy Bill to ban polygamy, the practice of having more than one wife.
The legislation proposes up to seven years of imprisonment for persons convicted of polygamy Further, those found guilty of having concealed their previous marriage can face punishment of up to ten years’ imprisonment.
The introduction of the legislation was viewed as a step towards implementing the Uniform Civil Code in the state.
During the rally on Sunday, Shah claimed that the previous Congress governments had for years “opened the doors of Assam for infiltrators”, The Indian Express reported.
“Our chief minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, closed Assam’s borders for infiltrators,” the newspaper quoted the Union home minister as saying. “1,25,000 bighas of land, which had been occupied by infiltrators, have been taken back…In the next five years, each infiltrator will be identified one by one and sent back to where they came from.”
Since April 2025, the police in several states ruled by the BJP have been detaining Bengali-speaking persons – mostly Muslims – and asking them to prove that they are Indian citizens.
Several persons have been forced into Bangladesh after they allegedly could not prove their Indian citizenship. In some cases, persons who were mistakenly sent to Bangladesh returned to the country after the state authorities in India proved that they were Indians.
In Assam, the chief minister has also repeatedly claimed that the state government was committed to ensuring an “infiltration-free” Assam, claiming that about 35 to 40 “illegal” immigrants were being “pushed back” every week.
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