The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha on Sunday passed a 50-point resolution, which included a demand that the Citizenship Amendment Act, Uniform Civil Code and National Register of Citizens be rejected in the state, PTI reported.

“The Citizenship Amendment Act, Uniform Civil Code and National Register of Citizens should be completely rejected in Jharkhand,” the party’s resolution, passed on its 46th foundation day, said.

The Citizenship Amendment Act aims to provide citizenship to undocumented migrants from six minority religious communities, except Muslims, from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan, on the condition that they have lived in India for six years and had entered the country by December 31, 2014. The National Register of Citizens is a proposed exercise to identify undocumented immigrants.

The rules under the Citizenship Amendment Act were notified by the Centre in March 2024.

The law has been widely criticised for excluding Muslims, sparking massive protests across the country. The protests were driven by the fear that the law could be used, along with the nationwide National Register of Citizens, to render Indian Muslims stateless.

The Uniform Civil Code is a common set of laws governing marriage, divorce, succession and adoption for all citizens. Currently, such personal affairs of different religious and tribal groups are based on community-specific laws, largely derived from religious scripture. On January 27, Uttarakhand became the first Indian state to have such a code after Independence.

The introduction of a common personal law has long been on the Bharatiya Janata Party’s agenda and several states ruled by the party have been making advances towards implementing it. The implementation of the rules in Uttarakhand could potentially set a precedent for other BJP-ruled states to follow suit.

In its campaign for the Uniform Civil Code, the BJP had mainly targeted Muslim personal law, arguing that it discriminated against women as it allowed Muslim men to practice polygamy, inherit a greater share of property, initiate divorce and deny alimony.

However, legal experts have said that the bill is primarily drawn from Hindu personal law and could lead to the erasure of the personal law practices of minority communities.

In November, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-led alliance won 54 seats in the 81-seat Assembly, allowing Hemant Soren to return as chief minister for a second consecutive term. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha won 34 seats, the Congress won 16, Rashtriya Janata Dal secured four and the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (Liberation) emerged victorious in two constituencies.