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By:

Akhilesh Sinha

25 June 2025 at 2:53:54 pm

Cultural identity begins once again

AI generated image New Delhi: The Assam government's decision to introduce the UCC Bill in the state assembly on Monday marks a significant shift in the political landscape. After Uttarakhand and Gujarat, Assam has become the third BJP-ruled state to move decisively toward giving legal shape to the Uniform Civil Code. Indications also suggest that the issue may soon emerge at the center of political discourse in West Bengal. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Atul Bora introduced the "Assam...

Cultural identity begins once again

AI generated image New Delhi: The Assam government's decision to introduce the UCC Bill in the state assembly on Monday marks a significant shift in the political landscape. After Uttarakhand and Gujarat, Assam has become the third BJP-ruled state to move decisively toward giving legal shape to the Uniform Civil Code. Indications also suggest that the issue may soon emerge at the center of political discourse in West Bengal. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Atul Bora introduced the "Assam Uniform Civil Code Bill, 2026" in the Assembly. The proposed legislation extends far beyond issues of marriage and divorce, touching several sensitive aspects of the social structure. According to Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, the law seeks to regulate five major areas, a ban on polygamy, a uniform minimum age for marriage, compulsory registration of marriages and divorces, equal inheritance rights for daughters in ancestral property, and mandatory registration of live-in relationships. The government argues that the legislation is aimed at providing legal protection to women and eliminating entrenched social evils. The most striking aspect of the Assam model, however, is its "exception clause." Scheduled Tribes have been kept outside the ambit of the proposed law, whether they reside in the hills or the plains. Traditional religious customs and rituals have also been exempted. This reflects the government's attempt to balance the message of equality with the ethnic and cultural sensitivities of the Northeast. Indeed, this remains one of the core challenges of Indian federalism that maintaining harmony between uniformity and diversity. The opposition has sharply criticised the Bill both inside and outside the Assembly from the very beginning of the session. While the ruling party claims that introducing the UCC fulfills one of its key electoral promises, opposition parties such as the Congress, Trinamool Congress, and Raijor Dal have questioned both the timing of the legislation and its potential social consequences. Assam Congress working president Zakir Hussain Sikdar described the move as the BJP's "political agenda" and asked what tangible benefit it would bring to ordinary citizens. The opposition has also alleged that there was no broad-based social or political consultation before introducing the Bill. Roots of Idea Yet, the idea of a Uniform Civil Code is far from new. Article 44 of the Directive Principles of State Policy in the Indian Constitution directs the State to endeavour to secure a common civil code for all citizens. The roots of this idea can be traced back to the colonial era. In 1835, the British government proposed the concept of a uniform law, though personal religious laws were kept outside its scope. Goa, through the Portuguese Civil Code, has long had a form of common civil law in place. However, in independent India, Uttarakhand became the first state to take a concrete step in this direction. The UCC Bill was introduced in the Uttarakhand Assembly in February 2024 and implemented in January 2025 after receiving presidential assent. The Uttarakhand model granted equal property rights to sons and daughters and made registration of live-in relationships mandatory, while exempting Scheduled Tribes. Gujarat, too, passed a UCC Bill this year, with a particular emphasis on inheritance laws. Under the proposed framework, if a person dies intestate, parents, children, and spouses would receive equal shares in the property. Highlighted Need The judiciary, too, has repeatedly underscored the need for a Uniform Civil Code. In the landmark Shah Bano case, the Supreme Court observed that Article 44 had remained "a dead letter" and stated that a common civil code could strengthen national integration. In the Sarla Mudgal judgment as well, the Court expressed disappointment over the failure to implement the UCC. Again in 2015, the Supreme Court reiterated the need to uphold the spirit of Article 44 by moving toward a common civil framework for the entire country. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar was among the strongest advocates of a Uniform Civil Code. During the Constituent Assembly debates, he argued that such a law would apply equally to people of all religions and would have nothing to do with religious practices themselves. He believed that ensuring equality in matters of family, marriage, inheritance, and civil rights was the duty of the State, so that individual rights would not be compromised in the name of community traditions.

BATNA for Internal Politics

Your authority is limited. Your alternatives decide your leverage

One new problem shows up … especially in Indian MSMEs: You realise your authority is not as strong as your designation. And this is where many leaders get emotionally confused. They think, “I’m the leader. Why is this not happening?”


Simple answer: because in legacy MSMEs, hierarchy is only one power source. Informal power is often stronger: old relationships, ownership proximity, “I’ve been here 20 years,” vendor networks, customer control, even family dynamics.


So, you need a different power lens, one that works without shouting. That’s where BATNA comes in.


Which Seat?

Inherited seat: You may have authority, but you’re still negotiating with legacy power … sometimes inside your own family.

  • Hired seat: You have the title, but you may not have the “last word”. People will test it.

  • Promoted seat: You may have trust, but you’re negotiating with peers who remember when you were “one of us”.


Different seats. Same reality: you will negotiate more than you will command.


Job Offers Metaphor

You’ve seen the difference in a person’s tone when they have options. Someone with one job offer is careful, anxious, overly accommodating. Someone with two job offers is calm, direct, not rude … just clear. Nothing about their IQ changed.


Only one thing changed: Their alternatives. That’s leverage.


BATNA is just a formal word for this. It comes from negotiation theory (Fisher and Ury popularised it in Getting to Yes). It stands for: Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement.


In human language: If this negotiation fails, what do I do next? If your answer is “nothing”, you have no leverage. And in internal politics, if you have no leverage, you end up doing one of two things:

  • you beg, or

  • you explode.

Both are bad leadership looks.


Why BATNA Matters

People think negotiation is for vendors and customers. Wrong. In MSMEs, the hardest negotiations are internal:

  • “Give me the data on time.”

  • “Stop bypassing the process.”

  • “Follow the dispatch sequence.”

  • “Don’t promise impossible delivery dates.”

  • “Raise issues early, not at the last moment.”


These are negotiations because the other side has ways to resist:

  • delay

  • forget

  • “network” around you

  • create exceptions

  • act helpless

  • escalate to someone above you


So the question becomes: what happens if they don’t agree? If nothing happens, your rule becomes optional.


Uncomfortable Truth

This is where people misunderstand BATNA. They imagine dramatic options: “I’ll fire him.” “I’ll resign.” “I’ll replace the whole team.” That’s not a BATNA. That’s fantasy. In an MSME, your alternatives are usually not dramatic. They’re structural. A real BATNA often looks like:

  • changing the route, not changing the person

  • building a bypass, not winning an argument

  • shifting the decision to a different forum

  • narrowing scope: “Fine, we’ll run the pilot without you”

  • making a gate: “If you don’t update, you won’t get approval”

  • using coalition support (Week 9, we’ll come to that)


BATNA is not about ego. It’s about options you can actually execute.


Internal BATNA

Let’s say a senior person refuses to share numbers.


No BATNA approach: “Please share… please share… why aren’t you sharing… I told you…”


BATNA approach: “Okay. This week, we’ll review only what is on the scoreboard. Anything not on it won’t get discussed or approved.”


Or a team keeps bypassing the new PO flow.


No BATNA: “Stop doing this. I’ve told you.”


BATNA: “Any PO without the standard details won’t be processed. Emergency exceptions only through me, and we’ll log them publicly.”


Or a salesperson keeps overpromising delivery.


No BATNA: Argue repeatedly.


BATNA: “Quotations will carry a standard lead time unless production confirms. If you want exception lead times, you must bring confirmation in writing.”


Notice: no shouting. No moral lecture.


Just a shift in the rules of the game.


That’s leverage.


(The writer is a co-founder at PPS Consulting. He is a business transformation consultant. He could be reached at rahul@ppsconsulting.biz.)

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