Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced on Monday, 25 May 2026 that a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) has been proposed in the Assam Legislative Assembly, with an explicit carve-out ensuring tribal communities and their customary practices remain outside the code's purview.

Posting in Hindi on X, CM Sarma stated: 'असम में भी जनजातीय समाज और उनकी रीतियों-नीतियों को UCC के दायरे से बाहर रखा गया है' ['In Assam too, tribal communities and their customs and practices have been kept outside the ambit of the UCC']. He credited the move to the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the guidance of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, framing it as a step taken in the national interest.

Context

The Uniform Civil Code refers to a common set of laws governing personal matters — marriage, divorce, inheritance, and adoption — applicable to all citizens regardless of religion, as envisaged under Article 44 of the Indian Constitution. The BJP has carried the UCC as a manifesto commitment since at least 2014, and the Assam proposal represents a significant state-level push toward that goal in the country's Northeast.

Assam is home to a substantial Scheduled Tribe population, many of whom live in areas governed under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, which grants autonomous district councils the authority to legislate on customary law. The explicit exclusion of tribal communities from the proposed UCC is therefore both a constitutional necessity and a political signal.

Policy Backdrop

Goa has operated a common civil code since the era of Portuguese administration, retained after its 1961 integration with India, making it the only state with such a framework in place. Uttarakhand became the first state in independent India to enact a fresh UCC through legislation in 2024, and that law similarly included exemptions for Scheduled Tribe communities — a template that Assam appears to be following.

Earlier discussions in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh also incorporated tribal exemption clauses, reflecting a pattern in which the BJP simultaneously advances legal uniformity for the general population while preserving constitutional safeguards for indigenous groups. This dual approach has helped the party navigate complex demographic realities, particularly in the Northeast where tribal identity is closely tied to customary personal law.

Stakeholders and Impact

For Assam's tribal communities — including groups in the Bodoland Territorial Region and hill districts — the exemption means their customary laws on marriage, inheritance, and land rights would remain untouched. Civil society organisations and tribal bodies across the Northeast have historically been sensitive to any perceived encroachment on these practices, making the carve-out a critical element of the proposal's political viability.

For the non-tribal population of Assam, the proposed UCC would, if enacted, replace religion-specific personal law codes. Muslim personal law, Hindu law, and other community-specific frameworks would give way to a single civil standard — a change with wide-ranging implications for family law disputes, property succession, and marriage registration.

What's Next

The immediate question is whether the Assam Legislative Assembly will pass the proposed UCC resolution or bill, and on what timeline a drafting committee — if constituted — would present a finalised text. CM Sarma, as convenor of the North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), may also use this move to encourage parallel legislative action in other BJP and NEDA-aligned states in the region. The Assam proposal adds fresh momentum to the national UCC debate ahead of future electoral cycles, and its tribal exemption architecture could serve as a model for other states with significant indigenous populations.