Guwahati | The Assam Assembly on Wednesday passed the UCC Bill, which seeks to establish a common legal framework to govern marriage, divorce, succession and live-in relationships irrespective of religion, even as the opposition demanded it be sent to a select committee.

The opposition MLAs termed the Bill as "BJP's political agenda" and sought wider consultation among all stakeholders. The lone Trinamool Congress MLA staged a walkout earlier, protesting certain provisions of the Bill and alleging that the proposed law has been introduced by the NDA with "malicious intent".

MLAs representing the ruling NDA in the Assam Assembly said the UCC Bill seeks to protect women's rights and is not against any religion or religious practice.

With the passage of the proposed legislation, Assam became the third state, after Uttarakhand and Gujarat, to pass a Uniform Civil Code Bill. Goa also has one common civil law, which continued from its erstwhile Portuguese colonial period.

After a day-long discussion on the 'The Uniform Civil Code, Assam, 2026 Bill', Speaker Ranjeet Kumar Dass rejected the opposition's demand that the Bill be sent to a select committee for wider consultation, prompting them to move to the Well of the House and keep on raising slogans till the draft was passed.

As the opposition did not move the amendments it had raised earlier during the day, the Speaker put the Bill for a voice vote, amid continuous sloganeering by the ruling bench.

"I declare that the Bill is passed," he said after the ruling members voted in favour of the Assam UCC, a contentious and polarising issue that was part of the BJP's election manifesto.

Aiming for a common set of laws on a range of personal matters like marriage, divorce, succession and live-in relationships irrespective of religion, the Assam government had on Monday tabled the Bill on the UCC, seeking to ban polygamy and make registration of live-in relationships compulsory.

The Bill, however, said that it will not be applicable to the Scheduled Tribes of Assam. It proposed several punitive measures, including seven years imprisonment for bigamy or polygamy, and three months in jail for not registering a live-in relationship.

"There can't be a better start of our five-year tenure than passing the UCC in the first assembly session of our new government. Prices of gas can decrease and increase, but no government can return the dignity of women once lost. Had the BJP not won this time, lakhs of women wouldn't have been shielded with security," Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

Earlier during the discussion on the Bill, he claimed that the Congress was "no longer being secular, and became a representative of a particular community".

"The UCC has a long history. It was first demanded by the Congress in 1925. It was also suggested in 1937 by Jawaharlal Nehru. That same Congress is opposing it from the angle of the Quran and Sharia, not from the Hindu or Christian or tribal angle," Sarma said.

"The Congress is opposing the UCC. Their assembly composition proves they are not representing all castes, creeds, and religions, but they represent only one specific community. The Congress doesn't represent Assam's geography," he further said.

The Congress has 19 MLAs in the 126-member Assam Assembly, of whom 18 are from the Muslim community, and one is Hindu.

"It's very sad and painful to see the Congress now. Our statements should represent all religions and all people. I feel that the Congress, instead of transforming into a communal party, should follow India's secular tradition," the CM said.

Sarma said the proposed legislation is based on the foundation of Article 44 of the Constitution, not on any BJP or RSS ideology as alleged by the opposition bench.

He justified the exclusion of tribals from the ambit of the proposed legislation, claiming that they already have many customary laws for ages on such personal matters.

"Tribals don't support polygamy, give equal rights to girls and don't recognise live-in relationships. They, in a way, have been implementing the UCC for ages. Self-regulation is the best regulation. So, we don't want to impose it on the tribals," Sarma said.

The opposition members, on the other hand, said the UCC will hurt the rights of a certain section of society.

"The topics mentioned in the UCC are already enforced in the form of different laws. Issues related to child marriage, polygamy, registration of marriage and divorce, alimony and other issues are governed by various laws. Then why has UCC been brought in?" asked Congress Legislature Party leader Wajed Ali Choudhury.

He stressed that it is "not a simplification of the laws, but rather complicating the whole process".

"The BJP brought it only for politics. It's not democratic to intervene in the personal issues of people. And how can a law excluding the tribals be called uniform?" Choudhury questioned.

He alleged that bringing in the UCC is a tactic to divert from main issues such as unemployment, flood and the condition of government schools, among others.

Congress MLA Jakir Hussain Sikdar said the then Law Commission in 2018 had opined that there was no need for the UCC, and had suggested, if the government at all wanted to bring it in, wider consultation among all stakeholders was required.

Raijor Dal's Akhil Gogoi said live-in relationships being brought under the Bill's ambit was "bureaucratic red-tapism on private relations and complete state interference into personal liberty".

Congress's Zubair Anam Mazumder said the only new point is that "now police can enter into live-in relationships".

"This Bill is not about live-in culture, it is a Bill to give power to police to enter the bedrooms of couples," he added.