Identity, Otherisation, Securitisation and the Religious Minority: The Case of Uniform Civil Code in India

Syed Tahseen Raza

 

Abstract: This article probes the issue of implementation of Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) in India from the angle of identity politics. Constructing on securitisation theory, this article explicates as to why the debate on UCC is fixated with the identity of Muslims, and why ‘Muslim men’ particularly, and why their rights related to marriage are constructed not merely as the main but the only concern. This article posits the thesis that the Muslim identity is politicised, otherised, and then systematically securitised. It highlights how the image of Muslim male is constructed to securitise the identity of the Muslim community as a whole. By constructing the image of violent Muslim male, Muslim women are presented as an agency-less subject that needs to be saved through the promulgation of UCC. With examples from popular media discourses and also questioning the timing and context of the increase in demands for UCC, this article underlines how the identity of Muslim is systematically otherised and ‘securitised’.