Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday welcomed the passage of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Bill 2026 in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly, saying that the country should run on “principle of equal laws”.
After Uttarakhand, Gujarat became the second state to pass the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Bill, 2026, on Tuesday, introducing a common legal framework for civil matters such as marriage, divorce, maintenance, and inheritance across communities and religions.
The Union Home Minister underlined that a uniform law is a “core commitment of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)”.
“A uniform law for every citizen of the country has been a core commitment of the Bharatiya Janata Party since its inception. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP-ruled state governments are continuously moving forward in this direction.”
He praised Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and the MLAs who voted in favour of the Bill.
The Home Minister said, “I am pleased that after Uttarakhand, Gujarat has now passed the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Bill, demonstrating its firm commitment to this principle. I extend my congratulations to Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and all the legislators who supported this bill.”
On Tuesday, Gujarat stepped into that debate decisively, passing the Uniform Civil Code Bill in the state Assembly and becoming only the second state in the country, after Uttarakhand, to do so.
The UCC is a simple idea with a complicated history: that the law should see citizens before it sees their faith. Gujarat’s move places it at the front of a conversation that has simmered in Indian public life for decades and is now, finally, being legislated.
The passage did not come easy. The Bill was debated for nearly eight hours amid protests from Opposition parties. Sixteen members spoke before it was put to vote. Congress MLAs demanded it be referred to a select committee. When that was rejected, three of them — Tushar Chaudhary, Shailesh Parmar, and Anant Patel — walked out. The Bill passed regardless.
The Bill seeks to bring uniformity to personal civil matters (marriage, divorce, succession, adoption, and live-in relationships) for all residents of Gujarat, irrespective of religion. It also proposes tighter rules around marriage registration, signalling that the state intends not just to unify personal law but to enforce it with greater rigour. Live-in relationships would require formal registration, and their termination too would need a declaration.
The Bill is largely modelled on Uttarakhand’s UCC and follows a report submitted by a committee headed by retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Desai. The Bill was made public a day after the committee submitted its final report to the Chief Minister.
The committee studied the Shah Bano case, laws governing marriages and divorces of Muslims, Christians, and Parsis, and civil codes of France, Azerbaijan, Nepal, Germany, and Turkey. It received over 20 lakh suggestions before drafting the Bill.
The move comes roughly a month after the Gujarat government proposed amendments to the Gujarat Registration of Marriages Act, 2006, making parental consent compulsory for marriage registration — a step taken during the Budget session citing concerns around “love jihad.”
The UCC now extends that legislative momentum considerably further.
Presenting the Bill in the Assembly, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel said it would reject any policy or custom that divides or discriminates among citizens on the basis of religion or caste. He said the principles of equality and equitable justice had been adopted throughout, and that it reflected the expectations and aspirations of Gujarat’s people for equal justice.
On social media, he called the Bill “historic” and described it as a gift to the sisters and daughters of the state.
The CM also addressed specific provisions. He said the live-in relationship clause was not meant to curtail freedom but to provide legal security to women. He invoked the Shraddha Walker case to explain why such protections were necessary. On fraudulent marriages, he said there was no place in Gujarat for those who concealed their identity.
On cousin marriages, he clarified that if a community’s tradition permitted such unions, the Bill would treat them as legal. He also confirmed the Bill would not apply to tribal communities covered under constitutional provisions.
Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi, who also defended the Bill strongly, called it the fulfilment of a BJP electoral promise. He pointed to countries such as France, Germany, Turkey, Nepal, and Azerbaijan as examples of nations with common civil codes.
The Opposition was unsparing. Senior Congress legislator Amit Chavda alleged the Bill was brought in haste, with political motives and with an eye on upcoming state elections. He questioned how a code that excludes certain communities could be called truly uniform. He also demanded that the Ranjana Desai Committee’s report be made public before the Bill’s passage.
The lone Muslim MLA in the 182-member House, Congress’s Imran Khedawala, opposed it on behalf of the entire Muslim community of Gujarat. He said the Bill risked distancing Muslims from Shariat Law and could render them “atheists.”
AAP MLA Chaitar Vasava took a different line, thanking the government and pointedly noting that Scheduled Tribe communities had been kept out of the Bill’s purview.
Passing the Bill is one thing. Implementation is another. It remains to be seen when the state will set up the administrative machinery (registrars, grievance mechanisms) to make the law functional.
Also Read: After Policing Marriage, Gujarat Now To Redraw Personal Laws With UCC Bill https://www.vibesofindia.com/after-policing-marriage-gujarat-now-to-redraw-personal-laws-with-ucc-bill/
