The Congress party on Sunday, July 16, held a closed-door meeting to discuss its approach to the issue of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC). The party has reportedly rejected the idea of uniformity of all laws and decided to prepare an internal report on the matter. The party has decided to formally react to the issue only after a draft is presented by the government.
In the meeting chaired by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, the party reportedly supported aspects of UCC like gender parity.
A Congress leader reportedly said, “We are clear that there can be nothing uniform about all laws. How can the country have the same civil laws for North East, South India, Muslims, and Hindus? However, some angularity of individual laws can be looked at.”
The party also reportedly pointed out that reforms in personal laws can be made by amending individual laws instead of uniformity across personal laws.
Another report quoted a ‘senior Congress leader’ as saying, “We will support aspects like equality of inheritance. But we will oppose the imposition of uniformity.”
The party also spoke about the parliamentary standing committee’s discussion on the matter. Committee chairman Sushil Kumar Modi reportedly proposed to keep tribal communities and the Northeast out of the ambit of UCC. The Congress has formed an eight-member panel to prepare an internal report for the party leadership on Uniform Civil Code.
So far, Congress has decided to not react officially on the subject until the government draft is out. Last month, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) claimed that the Congress in a meeting with the board assured to take cognisance of their concerns when the issue will be debated in the Parliament.
The debate around UCC is heating up ever since PM Modi made a statement on the same last month during his address on 27th June in Bhopal. Saying that political parties are trying to mislead Muslims, PM Modi strongly batted for equal rights and Uniform Civil Code enshrined in the Constitution. He dropped a major hint that UCC may be on the cards in the upcoming Parliament session.
Batting in favour of UCC, the PM said, “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.”