With Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami’s announcement of forming a committee to prepare the draft of Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the state, the BJP is expecting the clamour for UCC to spread across the country. The party has been a strong advocate of UCC and its Members of Parliament have previously listed Private Member’s Bills, advocating for its implementation.
Sources in the party told News18.com that with the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple issue already resolved, the BJP and RSS are looking to build a consensus on the UCC.
Uniform Civil Code has been one of the main poll planks of the BJP over the past several decades. The announcement by Pushkar Singh Dhami came on the last day of campaigning for Assembly elections when Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath are all expected to be in the state for campaigning.
A senior minister in the government said that to implement the UCC, all the government needs is to bring in a notification. “Everything that UCC stands for is there in our Constitution and we don’t need to bring in bill etc to implement it. All that is needed is a notification,” said the minister.
In fact, sources said that the move to bring in laws on ‘love jihad’, triple talaq and same minimum marriageable age for women across religions were also aimed at testing the waters before the UCC debate could be initiated.
Government sources are also pointing to repeated observations from the Supreme Court regarding UCC. In 2019, a Supreme Court bench had expressed disappointment over the lack of UCC, saying: “Whereas the founders of the Constitution in Article 44 in Part IV dealing with the Directive Principles of State Policy had hoped and expected that the State shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a Uniform Civil Code throughout the territories of India, till date no action has been taken in this regard.”
The law banning instant triple talaq was also seen as a step in the direction of bringing in UCC as it aimed to protect Muslim women from discriminatory religious practices. BJP MPs like Kirori Lal Meena, Nishikant Dubey and others have in the past given Private Member Bills on UCC in both Houses of Parliament, amid opposition from Left-leaning members.
What the Sangh Says
According to sources, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) believes it is important to bring in Population Control Bill and Uniform Civil Code. It advocates a wider consultation and later the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code across the country.
Sources in the Sangh said that there is a general feeling that having consensus on these two bills is top priority for both the Sangh and the Narendra Modi government.
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