The Uniform Civil Code passed by the Uttarakhand Assembly is applicable to all residents of the state. It is a prototype because although restricted to one state, the exercise seems to be more in the nature of a compendium, with the committee having compiled different laws granting equal rights to men and women in the areas of marriage, divorce, adoption, alimony, maintenance and inheritance rather than come up with an original document. The timing of its presentation was done keeping an eye on the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in order to further build up public opinion in favour of giving a third consecutive victory to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Otherwise, what is the reason for Uttarakhand to exclude people from the Scheduled Tribes from the ambit of the UCC? Tribals in UT comprise a miniscule portion of the state’s population and consist largely of Bhotias, Buxas, Tharus and Rajis numbering around five lakhs in a state with a population of around one crore. The Bhotias are an extremely influential and monied tribe based largely in the Chamoli and Pithoragarh districts with a sizeable number employed in the police force and at different levels of the bureaucracy.

The state government did not wish to alienate them with a distinct message being sent out to the larger ST community who comprise around 10.5 crore of the nation’s population. For the BJP, it is imperative to win over the tribal community in order to achieve its target of 370 Lok Sabha seats in 2024. And since they have already reached close to saturation levels in terms of seats in the northern cow belt states, winning over the confidence of the tribal communities in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh is a must to edge them on to an overwhelming victory. Their strategy to woo tribals has been working and the recently held state elections in MP, Rajasthan and........

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