Modi calls for secular civil code, underlines it is need of hour
Top BJP leaders including Modi promised to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) nationally along the lines of Uttarakhand during the campaign for the 2024 national polls
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday called for a secular civil code, underlining it was the need of the hour. Speaking from the ramparts of the Red Fort after unfurling the national flag for the 11th time on Independence Day, he underlined the importance of doing away with discriminatory communal civil code.
Modi said that the time has come for a secular civil code to replace the existing communal civil code to reflect the spirit of the Constitution and observations of the Supreme Court on the common set of laws. “...the communal civil code that existed for the last 75 years and created divisions based on religion will have to go,” he said.
He said the Supreme Court has on several occasions spoken on the issue of a common civil code. “There have been many decisions... there is a big section in the country... and there is truth in it... that the existing code creates discrimination,” he said. He said the country should follow what the “Constitution asks us to do and what the Supreme Court has asked us to do and what was the dream of the Constitution framers.”
“There should be extensive debate on the issue. Everyone should put forth their views and there should be no place for laws that divide the country and become the basis for dividing people based on religion,” he said.
Top Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders including Modi and Union home minister promised to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) nationally along the lines of Uttarakhand during the campaign for the 2024 national polls.
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, one of the directive principles of state policy, advocates UCC. But respective religion-based civil codes have governed personal matters since independence.
The UCC implementation has been on the agenda of the BJP and its ideological mentor the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The BJP has for years promised the implementation of a common civil code for all people irrespective of their faith.
In July last year, Modi endorsed the UCC in his address to BJP booth workers in Madhya Pradesh. He said Muslims were being misled in the name of UCC. “These days, people are being provoked by the UCC. You tell me, if there is one law for one person in a home, and another law for another person, can that house function?” he asked.
Many opposition parties, activists, and communities oppose UCC, which is perceived by some as a ploy to erase minority practices and rituals. Several tribal communities and sects within the larger Hindu faith also oppose a common code.
In its manifesto for the 2024 national polls, the Congress said it would encourage reform of personal laws with the participation and consent of the communities concerned. In February, Uttarakhand became the first state to pass a law for UCC. Muslim bodies have challenged the law in the Uttrakhand high court. Other BJP-ruled states such as Assam have promised to implement UCC, one of the three ideological promises of the ruling party.