Overview
- Officials and the Assembly Business Advisory Committee confirmed the state will table a Uniform Civil Code bill during the budget session on Monday, June 29, with the draft to be circulated to MLAs beforehand.
- Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shankar Ghosh said the rollout will follow procedures used in other BJP-ruled states, including constituting a committee led by a sitting or retired judge to guide drafting.
- Sources say the Bengal bill is expected to mirror recent UCC laws in Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Assam by banning polygamy, standardising marriage registration and inheritance rules, and likely excluding Scheduled Tribes from parts of the law.
- The government plans to introduce companion legislation on public order and anti-conversion issues, including proposals described as targeting 'love jihad' and a new public-safety bill that would expand preventive measures and asset-recovery powers.
- Muslim community leaders, opposition parties and civil-society critics warned the measures would infringe religious personal-law rights and vowed legal challenges and public mobilisation, while observers note Bengal’s large minority population makes the move politically consequential.