Addressing BJP workers in Bhopal on Tuesday after flagging off five Vande Bharat trains, Prime Minister Narendra Modi batted for a Uniform Civil code.
“Today people are being instigated in the name of UCC. How can the country be run on two (laws)? The Constitution also talks of equal rights…Supreme Court has also asked to implement UCC,” said Modi.
He further accused the Opposition of opposing the UCC for “vote bank politics”.
The Uniform Civil Code (UCC) calls for the formulation of one law for India, which would be applicable to all religious communities in matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, and adoption. The Hindu nationalists have for decades campaigned for the application of UCC, which minorities believe would be tantamount to the imposition of Hindu laws.
Modi’s speech comes days after the Law Commission sought the views of citizens and religious organisations on the question of whether a Uniform Civil Code should be formulated. Many Opposition parties and Muslim groups have been opposing the UCC, saying it is against the right to religious freedom guaranteed by the Constitution.
The demand for a UCC is nothing but an attempt to curtail citizens’ religious freedoms, said Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind, one of India’s Muslim organisations.
