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New Delhi: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Wednesday dubbed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s push for a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) as a “political stunt” driven by “electoral calculations”.
The NCP’s position on the issue, which has taken centrestage in political discourse following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks made in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh Tuesday, was spelt out by the party’s working president and Rajya Sabha MP Praful Patel after a meeting of its frontal organisations here.
“The hurry with which the BJP has started showing interest in the UCC suggests that it is a politician stunt aimed at the elections. Why else did they do nothing on this front over the last nine years? Ours is a very diverse country where many religions, communities have their own set of laws and customs. This is not about one community. The government should have held wider consultations on this issue,” Patel told reporters.
Addressing a press briefing after the meeting, which was attended by NCP chief Sharad Pawar and the party’s other working president Supriya Sule, Patel also parried questions on Ajit Pawar, who last week demanded more responsibility in the party organisation. Ajit, who is currently serving as Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra assembly, was not present at the meeting.
“This was a meeting of frontal organisations and the party’s national office-bearers. As far as those who have expressed certain interests, elections will be held to the posts of office-bearers and the party will take all such issues into consideration,” Patel said.
On the issue of UCC, however, Patel clarified that at the moment the NCP was neither supporting or opposing the proposal on its implementation. “Our point is, what explains this rush? They have even set aside the opinion, made in a consultation paper in 2018, of the 21st Law Commission that a UCC was ‘neither necessary nor desirable at this stage’.”
Earlier this month, the 22nd Law Commission invited suggestions on the UCC, sparking a fresh debate on the subject. By making a strong case for it Tuesday, Modi made it clear that UCC was going to figure majorly on the BJP’s agenda in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Going by the reactions so far, it is evident that the Opposition, including the Congress, is treading cautiously on the issue, refraining from getting into a debate on possible merits or pitfalls of a UCC. The AAP, meanwhile, appeared to speak in two voices on the subject Wednesday.
While its national general secretary (organisation) Sandeep Pathak told reporters that AAP “supports UCC in principle” but “large-scale consultations need to be held”, speaking separately, the party’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh told the media that “the BJP was interested in doing politics on the issue”.
“If we are to support UCC, based on which document should we frame our position?” Singh said, in an apparent reference to the fact that no draft legislation on UCC has been made public so far.
Meanwhile, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) decided late Tuesday that it would oppose “tooth and nail” any move to implement the UCC in the country.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
Also Read: Opposition is wrong in resisting UCC. It’s poor politics, runs against Constitution spirit
