India’s Assam moves to ban polygamy in law seen as targeting Muslims
Law backed by Hindu-nationalist leaders seen as attempt to erode Muslim personal laws and impose a uniform Hindu framework
NEW DELHI, India (MNTV) — A proposed law criminalizing polygamy in India’s northeastern state of Assam has drawn sharp criticism from rights groups and legal scholars, who say the legislation is politically motivated and directed primarily at Muslims.
The Assam Prohibition of Polygamy Bill, 2025, approved by the state Cabinet on Sunday, was introduced by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, one of India’s most outspoken Hindu supremacist leaders. The bill proposes prison sentences of up to seven years and will be tabled in the state Assembly on November 25.
Though presented as a measure to “protect Muslim women,” the draft law pointedly exempts Scheduled Tribes and regions governed under India’s Sixth Schedule, such as Bodoland and Karbi Anglong — areas that together cover much of the state’s non-Muslim population.
Rights advocates say this selective application makes the law effectively target the Muslim minority, who constitute one-third of Assam’s 36 million residents.
Legal experts argue the move forms part of a wider Hindutva campaign to impose a Uniform Civil Code, a long-standing ideological goal of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that seeks to replace religion-based personal laws with a single Hindu-majoritarian framework.
“Assam is being used as a testing ground,” said political scientist Ameer Ali of Jawaharlal Nehru University. “This has less to do with women’s rights and more to do with policing Muslim identity.”
The legislation comes amid mounting Islamophobia under BJP rule, where Muslims have faced property demolitions, lynchings, and restrictions on dress and worship. Analysts note that Sarma, who has repeatedly portrayed Muslims as a “demographic threat,” has made social control a central plank of his administration.
While Sarma announced a compensation fund for women affected by polygamy, opposition parties say the initiative masks a deeper ideological intent. “This is not reform — it’s a political project to dismantle India’s pluralism,” said one opposition legislator.
Polygamy remains permissible under Muslim personal law, which regulates marriage and family matters, while it was banned among Hindus in the 1950s through the Hindu Code Bill.
Activists warn that the Assam bill could set a precedent for nationwide attempts to dilute minority legal protections in the name of uniformity.
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