In a welcome move, the Arunachal Indigenous Tribes Forum (AITF), a conglomeration of 26 major tribal communities, has urged the Law Commission to keep the state out of the purview of implementation of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC). While some political parties have opposed a UCC, it is being mostly on ideological basis. But the AITF is a non-political body representing all the tribes of the state. Its voice in this highly controversial issue matters a lot. The people of the state were looking forward to listening to the views of the AITF on this matter.
The apex tribal body of the state has made it very clear that a UCC is not acceptable to tribals of the state. There is constitutional protection given to Arunachal Pradesh’ tribal social system, customary laws and customary rights and the AITF believes these should continue. The implementation of a UCC has the potential to disrupt the constitutional protection given to the tribals. All the civil society bodies, including apex student organisations like the AAPSU and other community-based organisations too should come out and demand to keep Arunachal out of the purview of a UCC. Further, a UCC is being opposed by several other religious, as well as ethnic groups across India. The government of India should engage in dialogue and take the views of everyone before even contemplating implementing it.