On 29th January, Samajwadi Party leader Syed Tufail Hasan (ST Hasan) said he would prefer the Quran over the Uniform Civil Code (UCC). He also protested against the Citizen Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) saying that implementing CAA is the first step to bringing NRC and it is not acceptable and will be protested.
Will follow the Quran, not UCC
Speaking on the Uniform Civil Code, ST Hasan said that even if UCC gets implemented in the country, they [Muslims] will follow the Quran and not the law, if the law has anything which goes against Shariat. He said, “If UCC has different laws from Quran and Hadis we will not accept it. We are followers of the Quran and Hadis. We will go to any extent if our religion is attacked.”
He said that if there was anything which was against Sharia or the Quran in the UCC, Muslims would follow the Quran and Sharia, not the Uniform Civil Code.
‘They will bring NRC next and it is not acceptable’
On 28th January, Union Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Shantanu Thakur said CAA would be implemented in the next seven days across the country. His statement stirred a police battle as CAA was opposed heavily when it was passed by the Parliament in 2019 leading to anti-Hindu riots in Delhi in February 2020.
Replying to Thakur’s statement, ST Hasan said first the government will bring CAA then they will bring NRC. “It is not acceptable to us. We will protest against it,” he said.”
CAA was passed by the parliament in December 2019 with 125 votes in its favour and 99 against. On 12th December, then-President of India Ramnath Kovind signed the bill and it became a law. The main aim of the law is to give citizenship to religious prosecuted Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and Jains in neighbouring Muslim countries that are Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Though CAA has nothing to do with Indian Muslims or Muslims seeking Indian citizenship, opposition leaders and left-liberals projected as if it was a way to strip Indian Muslims of their citizenship. As a result, protests broke across the country leading to anti-Hindu riots in Delhi in February 2020.
Furthermore, it was claimed that NRC will be linked to CAA and Indian Muslims will be treated as aliens in the country. Interestingly, the government of India has yet to table a draft for NRC.
Notably, four states that are Kerala, Punjab, Rajasthan and West Bengal have introduced resolutions against CAA claiming it was anti-Muslim. At that time, Rajasthan was under Congress’s rule. As now BJP is now in power, the state government may take back the resolution against CAA.
ST Hasan has a history of making controversial statements
ST Hasan has a long history of being surrounded by controversies. In June 2023, he opposed UCC and categorically said that Muslims will only follow the Quran. In a statement, he said, “Why does anyone have a problem if we apply Sharia law to ourselves?” He added, ““India is a land of unity is diversity. Our country is a bouquet of colourful flowers. When our country gained independence, Dr Ambedkar wrote that every person is free to practice and preach their religion. This is written in our constitution. Why is anyone bothered if we want to live our life as per Sharia.”
In June 2021, he claimed that deaths due to COVID-19 were the result of BJP messing with Sharia laws. While people were dying of the consequences of the disease, the SP leader found it to be the best time to make it about politics. He claimed the BJP passed the CAA which was against Muslims and it resulted in havoc as if God was punishing the people of India for “BJP’s wrongdoings”.
In May 2023, he made a bizarre statement claiming the government was spying on him because an “objectionable movie” started playing on his CCTV monitor. He said, “Suddenly an ‘objectionable film’ which cannot be watched with the family started playing on the CCTV monitor here, I tried to stop it, don’t know where the technology is heading. This TV you are seeing is also being monitored from somewhere else.”
In 2019, when the central government passed a law against triple talaq, ST Hasan went on a rant and said it was better to give “triple talaq” to the wife rather than setting them on fire. Earlier, he had once compared actresses to prostitutes.