UCC in India: Days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a pitch for the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah on Thursday said that the Central government should “rethink” its decision on the implementation of UCC in India or it else the move may raise a “storm”.
PM Modi's pitch for UCC has triggered a political row in the country. Congress attacked the Modi government over UCC. The grand old party slammed the 22nd Law Commission (for its recommendation to implement UCC), reminding it of the 21st Law Commission's statement- "It is “neither necessary nor desirable at this stage” to have a UCC”.
Govt should think
Speaking to reporters, Abdullah said, "They (Central govt) should think that the country is diverse, people of all religions live here, and Muslims have their own Shariat law. They should think about it repeatedly. They should think about any possible storm that would come if they do that (implement UCC)."
Earlier, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin said the prime minister was “looking to escalate religious conflicts and confuse people to win (elections).” “I am sure, people will teach a lesson to the BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections,” Stalin was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
On Tuesday, PM Modi, while addressing party workers in Bhopal, had hit out at the Opposition parties for “misleading” minorities regarding the UCC. "Today people are being instigated in the name of UCC. How can the country run on two (laws)? The Constitution also talks of equal rights...Supreme Court has also asked to implement UCC. These (Opposition) people are playing vote bank politics," he asserted.
Implementation of UCC
Implementation of the UCC has now become BJP's top priority - with eyes on 2024 polls. Going on the right track BJP-run states like Goa have already implemented it, while in Uttarakhand a promise was made in this regard ahead of its 2022 Assembly polls — it was also in his poll manifesto. The Pushkar Singh Dhami-led Uttarakhand government has formed a five-member committee headed by a retired Supreme Court judge to prepare a draft on UCC for the state.
For UCC, the Centre has been banking upon Supreme Court, which has time and again given a green signal in a few cases in order to provide equal justice to citizens. This was reflected when the SC made a decision on abolishing Tripple Talaq.
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