E-Paper
Uttar Pradesh government mulling over uniform civil code introduction: Dy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya
In the run-up to assembly polls in both Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, BJP leaders had regularly talked about the uniform civil code.
The Bharatiya Janata Party government in Uttar Pradesh is mulling over introduction of the uniform civil code (UCC), deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said on Saturday. Implementation of the UCC is a key BJP commitment.
Maurya’s statement came soon after Union home minister Amit Shah indicated in Bhopal that the uniform civil code, which will be implemented as a pilot project in Uttarakhand, will be rolled out across the country.
“All should demand and welcome the uniform civil code. The Uttar Pradesh government, too, is thinking in this direction. We favour it as it is necessary for the state as well as the people of the country,” Keshav Prasad Maurya tweeted.
U.P BJP spokesman Harish Srivastava justified Maurya’s statement.
“There is nothing wrong in what the deputy CM has said. We have been vocal since the beginning about core issues and the uniform civil code implementation is part of it,” he said.
In the run-up to assembly polls in both Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, BJP leaders had regularly talked about the uniform civil code.
“We will take a call on it at the right time,” chief minister Yogi Adityanath had said in the run-up to the 2022 UP polls.
He had said this when asked about Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami’s comment that if voted to power in the hill state, the BJP would implement the Uniform Civil Code. On coming to power, Dhami has set up a committee to consider its implementation. Maurya’s remarks suggested that U.P, too, favoured implementation of the code.
In response to Keshav Prasad Maurya’s remarks, Samajwadi Party national spokesperson Abdul Hafiz Gandhi said the subject needs detailed discussions and debate within Parliament and the society.
“The challenge before us is how to maintain the diversity of cultures in the quest for uniformity of laws. For a project like this, stakeholders need to be consulted and national consensus built before initiating any hasty efforts. In a multi-religious and multi-cultural country like India, diverse traditions need protection. How to accommodate these is a moot question for any legislative exercise for uniformising laws,” he said.
