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Karnataka polls: BJP promises UCC, NRC, special police wing
UCC refers to a common set of laws for personal matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, and succession for all citizens
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has promised the implementation of a Uniform Civil Code (UCC), the introduction of a National Register of Citizens (NRC), a special police wing against religious fundamentalism and terrorism if it is voted back to power in May 10 Karnataka assembly polls.
“We will implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in Karnataka based on the recommendations made by a high-level committee which is to be constituted for the purpose,” the BJP said in its manifesto for the polls released on Monday.
UCC refers to a common set of laws for personal matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, and succession for all citizens. Constitution’s Article 44, which is one of the directive principles of state policy, advocates UCC. But respective religion-based civil codes have governed personal matters since independence.
The BJP government in Uttarakhand constituted a five-member committee for the implementation of UCC in the northern state in line with the party’s poll promise last year.
In January, the Supreme Court ruled state governments have the power to examine the feasibility of implementing UCC. It added the Constitution permits not only the Union government but also the states to legislate on subjects such as marriage, divorce, and adoption.
The Supreme Court in March refused to entertain petitions seeking directions for the legislature to enact a law for UCC saying such issues are meant for Parliament to decide.
Ahead of the elections in Gujarat, the BJP government in the western state in October announced the formation of a committee for the implementation of UCC.
The BJP’s Karnataka manifesto said the NRC in the state will be introduced to ensure the speedy deportation of illegal immigrants.
NRC excluded 1.9 million of the 33 million applicants in August 2019 in Assam after a decades-long movement against undocumented immigrants and stoked fears of loss of citizenship and long periods of detention.
The NRC was first published in Assam in 1951. It was updated in 2019 to detect and remove names of undocumented immigrants from citizenship rolls.
The BJP manifesto said the special police wing will be called Karnataka-State Wing Against Religious Fundamentalism And Terror (K-SWIFT).
BJP president Jagat Prakash Nadda, who released the manifesto in the presence of chief minister Basavaraj Bommai and his predecessor BS Yediyurappa, said justice to all and appeasement to none is the BJP’s vision for Karnataka. He said that the BJP government in the state abolished the “unconstitutional” reservation for Muslims.
The Supreme Court last month said the Karnataka government’s decision to scrap the 4% other backward classes quota for Muslims ahead of the polls is “prima facie shaky and flawed”.
In its manifesto, the BJP has also promised three free cooking gas cylinders for families below power line (BPL) annually on Ugadi, Ganesh Chathurthi, and Diwali festivals, Atal Aahara Kendra canteens for subsidised food in every ward of a municipal corporation. It has also pledged half-a-litre Nandini milk daily to BPL families besides five kg of rice and grains monthly.
The Congress, which is seen to be a frontrunner in Karnataka polls, has accused the BJP of trying to “strangulate” Nandini, Karnataka’s milk cooperative.
The controversy began when Union home minister Amit Shah in December 2022 spoke about the collaboration between Gujarat-based milk cooperative Amul and Nandini to improve the income of rural households.
