Between the Religious and the Secular

The Politics of Personal Law in South Asia: Identity, Nationalism and the Uniform Civil Code
by Partha S. Ghosh
Review by: Sanghamitra Padhy
Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 44, No. 24 (Jun. 13 - 19, 2009), pp. 30-31
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40279105 .
Accessed: 03/08/2014 17:16

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Economic and Political Weekly is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to
Economic and Political Weekly.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 14.139.45.241 on Sun, 3 Aug 2014 17:16:09 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
BetweentheReligious forand againstpersonallaws on grounds
ofminority equalityoflaw,cultural
rights,

and theSecular rights, appeasement politics, national

integration,women'srights, etc,in India,
Pakistanand Bangladesh, whilethepoliti-
cal space is equally silentin the other
SANGHAMITRAPADHY south Asian countries.Hereinthe book
makesa departurefromclaimstoequality
laws are a contestedissue, oflaw and centralisedlegalapparatusand
and moreso in southAsia,because arguesforlegal pluralismand empower-
Personal and colonialhistory. The Politics of Personal Law in South Asia:
ofitsdiversities mentas a modelto negotiatethrough the
Bothdiversity and colonialism have inter- Identity,Nationalism and the UniformCivil varioustensionsofreligionandrights.
actedinmultiple domainsinsouthAsia,and CodebyPartha SGhosh (New Delhi: 2007;
Routledge),
ppxv+339,Rs695. Reasons forLegal Pluralism
thepolitics thathas developedfromthisin-
terchangeexplainshow culturalplurality Throughvariousexamplesand case stud-
and secularissueshave been addressedin newinstitutionalframework ofanalysing ies of south Asian countriesGhoshex-
theirpost-colonial In fact,in law is an important
constitutions. contribution to legal plains,thereasonsforlegalpluralism rest
thecaseofIndia,whileitinherited theBritish studiesinIndiaandtotheliterature on per- notonlyon the religiousdiversity, buton
common law tradition,the boundaries sonal laws, bringingto lightthe various how religionand politicsare interlinked.
betweenreligious and secularcouldnotbe dimensionsof the politicalcontestations Unlikethesecularmovement in thewest,
addressedintheblacklettertradition ofthe overinstitutionalisation ofpersonallaws. secularisation
in thesepost-colonial socie-
law.The Stategave considerable space to ties has been a productof transplant of
personallaws forvariousculturaland po- ComparativeAnalysis westerninstitutions,and hence,ithas not
liticalreasons,andsecularisationwas limit- Takingan interdisciplinary approachthat been ingrainedin socialvalues.Secondly,
ed to certainaspectsof the publicrealm. intersects politicaland legaltheory, Ghosh theimposition ofsecularmodelisnotinde-
Nevertheless, thisdid notnecessarilysettle providesa comparative analysisoftheevo- pendentofcertaindivideand rulepolicies
the debate on religiousrightsand there lutionof personallaws in the contextof ofthecolonialstateand nationalist strate-
have been multiplecontestations to this politicalhistory ofsouthAsia,thoughfrom gies of appeasingreligioussentiments to
legality.The polemicsof thisdebate has an India-centric perspective. Ghoshasks mobilisepolitically. Asa result, religionhas
revolvedaround the issues of minority two importantquestions:should plural an important placeinthepublicrealm,and
rights, religiousfundamentalism, national societiesadoptuniform civillaws indefer- hence,theinstitutions ofthestateandeven
integration, universalhuman rights,and ence to the equalityofall citizensbefore politicsoftheregion,in colonialand post-
mostimportantly, theviabilityof positivist law orshouldtheintegration ofthediverse colonialcontext,have been relatively au-
laws in a pluralsociety.The politicsthat religiousand culturalgroupsbe addressed tonomousfromvestedreligiousinterests.
ensuesfrom eachofthesequestionsasksfor througha pluralistmodeloflaw in defer- This,as Ghoshexplains,has had serious
a pluralmodeloflaw thatcan integrate the encetotheconceptthata democracy must implications.
On theone hand,thereemer-
variousnotionsof rightsand justice,from respecttherights ofminorities? Second,he ged a politicalclassthatengagedwithsec-
cultural,localandinternational
perspective. askshowcan politicalsystems addressthe ularpolitics,and on theother,therewere
variousclaimsforand againstthe intro- different segments ofgroupsthatgavecen-
Legalisation of Personal Laws ductionofa unifiedcivilcode (ucc), more tralityto religiouspolitics,representing
ThisbookbyParthaS Ghoshrevisits these particularly, he attempts to explaintheim- bothmajoritarian and minority interests.
veryquestionsof legalisationof personal plicationsof coding respectivepersonal The political contingenciesof these
laws by drawinga connectionbetween laws forminority rightsand the equality equivocalclaimsresultedin a highlyfrag-
politicsand religion.Writing in the tradi- debate.He addressesthesequestionsfrom mentedpoliticalwillin favourofpersonal
tionof neo-institutional scholarship,such the prismof politics:he claims that the laws fordifferent religiousgroups.Forin-
as David Kairys(1992), Ghosh demon- reasonsforthe legitimisation of ucc or stance,in Pakistan,the developmentof
stratesthatpreferences forcontinuity or non-legitimisation rest on the political ShariahAct ensuredthe continuing pro-
reform ofpersonallaws in pluralsocieties debatethanthesocio-cultural context. cess of bringingcivillaw intoconformity
is a questionof politicsthan a judicious Ghoshexplains,while culturaldiffer- withIslamicinjunctions, despitethepoli-
choicefora pluralmodelbasedonreligion. ences are one reason foracceptanceof tical interestto secularisethe laws. Even
Law,as theauthorargues,is intheessence personal law, the claims forreformor thoughthe MuslimsFamilyLaws Ordi-
ofpolitics,exemplifiedinthediscourseson continuity are partof the largerpolitical nanceof 1961(mflo) was passedin Paki-
issues of equality,rights and justice choicesthatare reflected in thelaws.This stan,it could not be effective because of
betweenculturesin a pluralsociety.The is well-demonstrated in the claimsmade thestrongundercurrents inIslamicpolitics
00
JUNE 13, 2009 vol XLiv no 24 E3EI Economic& Politicalweekly

This content downloaded from 14.139.45.241 on Sun, 3 Aug 2014 17:16:09 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 - - = BOOK REVIEW

and the traditional natureof society.In standardsneedto evolvethrough negotia- trajectories in thepoliticsofpersonallaws,
theory, it undercuts the authority of civil tion with socio-cultural values; an argu- he seems to have arrivedat a positionof
courts.This authenticates how legal re- mentthatis increasingly seeinglight in the recognising personalrealmin religious
the
forms inthepersonalrealmareconditioned contextof interaction betweenglobaland normsand a pluralnotionofrightthatde-
by:bothintermsofthosewhoclaimforre- local norms.Thisconceptualisation of the velopsinconjunction withitssocialandpo-
forms andthosewhorestrain reforms. law is important to thehumanrightsdis- liticalcontext. Thisnotionoflaw incontext
Inthecase ofIndia,thisis further more courseas rightscannotbe treatedas enti- is exceedingly vitalto thediverserangeof
complicated by the politics that has emer- tlements that can be transported and trans- The
challenges. study, therefore, makesim-
gedpost-Shah Bano as varied groups have planted in cultures, but each of these has to portant additions to the literature on new
madeclaimsbasedon certainconceptions evolvewithinthecultures. Thecodification institutionalism and to legal pluralism.It
ofjustice.The debatethathas ensued is oflaw,therefore, undermines themeanings willbe interesting to expandthisstudyto
notonlyabouthow to reconcilereligious ofindigenous justicebyreducing law to a examine the campaignfroma bottom-up
interests withwomen'srightsissues,but setofdefinedrules. perspective well.Thisperspective
as willbe
also a politicsofreligiousfundamentalism Ghosh provides certain solutionsto important to bringing in effective solutions
supportedby the Hindutvaparties,who counter these challenges, primarily to alteringsocialhierarchies.The bookis
demandeda uniform civilcode, appease- focusingon empowerment and education. an excellentcontribution in the fieldsof
mentpoliticsbysomeothersto gain sup- However,his approachtowardsthe ten- politicaltheory, legal pluralism,law and
portofthevestedIslamicgroupsclaiming sionsbetweenindividualand grouprights society, minority rights, humanrights, com-
protection of their personal laws and hinges on institutional responses, and parativepolitics and south Asian studies.
reformists. Theendresult,beinga politics hence,is limitedinbroadening thedebate
ofvarioussortsand law,is constituted by to exploresocial-stateengagementsand Email:spadhy15@hotmail.com
thepoliticalchoicesoftheelite. social actionbeyondthelaw. Whileinsti-
tutional initiativesare important,the REFERENCES
State's Mediation agenda of recognition to women'srights AbdullahiAhmedAn-Naim(1992): HumanRightsin
Cross-Cultural A QuestforConsensus
Perspectives:
ThesecondquestionthatGhoshexploresis also needstofocusonwomen'slocal inita- (Philadelphia, PA: Universityof Pennsylvania
how statescan mediatebetweenthe ac- tivesinthisdirection. ThisiswhereI think Press).
and universal the frontier of this examination needs to Kairys,David (1992):"LegalReasoning"inThePolitics
of
ceptance religious laws of Law: A ProgressiveCritique (New York:
humanrights. Whiletheacceptanceofreli- expand, to identify the worksof social PantheonBooks),11-17.
Menski,F Werner(2006): Comparative Law ina Global
gious laws the
legitimised legal space of activists in the field.This network is im- Context: TheLegalSystems ofAsiaandAfrica(Cam-
minority/religious communities as law is in portantto theadvancement ofthedebate bridge:Cambridge Press).
University
with it has on women's and law. Merry, Sally Engle (2005): HumanRightsand Gender
conformity religious injunctions, rights personal Violence:Translating Law intoLocal
International
led to many discriminatory practices EventhoughGhoshseemstohaveslight- Justice(Chicago:UniversityofChicagoPress).
thepointoflawbeingsocially Renteln, D Alison (1990): InternationalHuman
againstwomengiventhatthe interpreta- lyoverlooked Rights: Universalism versus Relativism
tionofrights hasbeenlefttothevestedreli- constituted, throughhis attentionto the (London:Sage).
gious leaders. Forinstance, the case of Shah
BanoinIndia,therights
tomaintenance
ofMuslimwomen
aretrampled
Economic&PoliticalwEEKLY
bypatriarchic
notionsofrights legitimised through invo- CD-ROM2006
cationofa certaininterpretation ofIslam. is now availablefor2006 on a singledisk.
The digitalversionofEconomic and PoliticalWeekly
Legal scholarsand practitioners have hy-
Thiselectronic editioncontainsthe completecontentofall the issuespublishedin 2006.TheCD-ROM
pothesisedmanypossiblealternatives to to makeyourbrowsingexperience
2006 comes equipped witha powerfulsearchas well as utilities
balancetheseinterests and one probable productive. Thecontentsare indexedand organisedas in the printedition,witharticleslaid out in
alternative thatis gainingsupportis the individualsectionsineach issue.Userscan browsethroughthe sectionsor use thesophisticated search

ofpersonallaws.Ghosh,how- to locatearticlesand statisticsofinterest.

codification facility

ever,is rightly criticaloftheimminent dan- PriceforCD-ROM 2006 (in India)

Individuals - Rs 285 (Rs 250 plus postageand handlingchargesof Rs 35)
gers inherent in this The
practice. process - Rs 535 (Rs 500 plus postageand handlingchargesof Rs 35)
Institutions
ofcodification undermines thewholeques-
International - US$ 40 (includingairmailpostage)
tionofgivingspaceto minority rightsand
alsodelegitimises themeaningandpurpose Also available 2003, 2004 and 2005 on three separate CDs, individual CD price as above

of laws. Human rightsscholarssuch as Anyqueriesplease email:circulation@epw.in

thoseof Abdullahi Ahmed An-Naim (1992) To orderthe CD-ROMs(please specifythe year) send a bank draftpayableat Mumbaiin favourof
haveargued that law is a informed Economicand PoliticalWeekly. The CDs can also be purchasedon-lineusinga creditcardthrougha
process
schol- securepaymentgatewayat epw.in.
bythesocial needs. Law and society
ars suchas Werner Menski(2006), Alison Circulation
Manager,
Economic and Political Weekly
D Renteln (1990),SallyEngleMerry (2005)
320, 321,A to Z Industrial Estate,GanpatraoKadam Marg,LowerParel,Mumbai400 013,India
and othershave demonstrated thatlegal
weekly 1333 june 13, 2009
& Political
Economic vol xliv no 24 31

This content downloaded from 14.139.45.241 on Sun, 3 Aug 2014 17:16:09 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions