New Delhi: With the effects of the Centre’s move to demonetise old Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes dying down, Opposition parties are now focusing on the proposed Uniform Civil Code (UCC) to corner the government in the upcoming Budget Session of Parliament. The campaign against the UCC is also likely to help the concept of a secular front against the Narendra Modi-led government, especially with Assembly elections coming up in five states, including the politically crucial Uttar Pradesh.
The first salvo has been fired by JD(U) chief and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, who has written to the law commission twice, including on Wednesday, cautioning against the attempt to impose to a UCC without the concurrence of various religious groups, especially minorities. Mr Kumar said in the letter that “it was not a political instrumentality to be hurriedly imposed”. The letter goes on to say that the imposition of UCC must be based on a broad consensus in its favour and not be imposed by a fiat.
Sources in the JD(U) said that they have approached other “like-minded” parties, like the Trinamool Congress and the Left.
The parties are also in touch with the Congress to bolster the secular Opposition space.
The UCC has been a polarising political issue in India as it seeks to replace separate personal laws of different religious communities in the country.
The last session of Parliament had been virtually washed off by protests against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s demonetisation drive. Almost all Opposition parties had come together to vehemently denounce the exercise.
The first leg of the Budget Session begins on January 31 and goes for a break on February 9.
The law commission released a questionnaire in 2016 in which citizens had been invited to give their opinions on the UCC. The questions covered a broad range of subjects such as marriage, divorce, adoption and inheritance, among others.
The law panel has undertaken this exercise in order to revise and reform family laws under Article 44 of the Indian Constitution, which reads as follows, “The state shall endeavour to provide for its citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India.”
