Marry Again Now, Or Face Jail After UCC: Assam CM’s Advice To Opposition Leader

Guwahati: Badruddin Ajmal, one of Assam’s leading Opposition leaders, had asserted recently that he is not too old and has the strength to get married again even if the state’s chief minister didn’t want that.

CM Himanta Biswa Sarma has responded, taking a dig at the 74-year-old Ajmal and saying that the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) chief should do so now, or face arrest.

Biswa Sarma was referring to the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) which, he said, will be implemented in the state after Lok Sabha elections and polygamy would become illegal.

UCC is a common set of laws applicable to all Indian citizens, and not based on religion, in dealing with marriage, divorce, inheritance and adoption among other personal matters.

“He (Badruddin Ajmal) should marry now. After the elections, Uniform Civil Code (UCC) will be implemented in Assam. If he marries after that, he will be arrested,” Biswa Sarma said on the sidelines of an election rally on Saturday.

“If he (Ajmal) invites us now, we will also go because it’s not illegal so far. As far as I know, he has one wife. He can marry two or three more, but we will stop polygamy right after elections. The entire draft is ready,” the Assam CM added.

Ajmal, the sitting MP from Dhubri, is contesting again from the same constituency in Lower Assam.

“People in the Congress and Rakibul Hussain (his Congress opponent in Dhubri) said that I have become old. But I still have so much strength that I can get married. I can do so even if the chief minister doesn’t want me to, that’s how much strength I have,” the AIDUF founder had said a few days ago.

AIUDF is the third largest political party in the Assam Legislative Assembly, after ruling BJP and Congress.

Assam will vote in three phases — on April 19, April 26 and May 7. Results will be declared on June 4.