Mayawati supports Uniform Civil Code but doesn't back BJP's ‘politics’

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Sunday said her party supported the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and believed it would lead to communal harmony.

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Sunday said her party was not against implementing Uniform Civil Code (UCC), which she believed would “lead to communal harmony” but slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party for "politicising” the issue.

Bahujan Samaj Party Supremo Mayawati during the meeting with party office bearers at party office in Lucknow. (ANI file photo)

“Our party (BSP) is not against the implementation of UCC but we do not support the way BJP is trying to implement Uniform Civil Code in the country. It is not right to politicise this issue and forcefully implement UCC in the country,” Mayawati said at a press conference.

“The UCC will not weaken the country but strengthen the country and it will also lead to communal harmony….but people having faith on various religions live in the country. They have separate practices and customs and it should not be overlooked," Mayawati added.

She stressed that the UCC must not be forcibly implemented and there should be general consensus on the matter.

Mayawati also alleged the BJP was raking up the issue to divert the attention of the public from contentious issues and problems faced by them. “There should not be politics over the UCC….The Article 44 of the Constitution clearly states that the state shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a Uniform Civil Code through the country,” she added.

Mayawati's statement comes days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi pushed for the UCC during a programme in Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal. The UCC is a proposal to formulate and implement personal laws of the citizens which will be applicable to every Indian irrespective caste, religion and sexual orientation.

Modi, during a rally on Tuesday, alleged that the opposition was using the UCC issue to incite the Muslim community and slammed the policy of appeasement, which he blamed for the “backwardness” of some social groups.

Shortly, after Mayawati's presser, Samajwadi Party spokesperson Sunil Singh Sajan reacted to her remarks and said, “What Mayawati has said is the same thing that SP chief (Akhilesh Yadav) has been saying time and again that the BJP is trying to set its agenda. SP is always against the agenda of hatred and division being set by the BJP.”

The debate surrounding the contentious issue gained momentum again last month after the Law Commission of India called for fresh suggestions from public and religious organisations on the issue.

While the Aam Aadmi Party has extended its “in principle” support to the UCC, the Congress said it was “undesirable” at this stage. The Opposition has also charged the Centre of milking the issue for political gains just ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election.

BJP ally and Meghalaya chief minister Conrad Sangma and his Kerala counterpart Pinarayi Vijayan have expressed their reservations over the issue. While Sangma said the UCC goes against the “idea of India”, Vijayan alleged that it was on the “electoral agenda” of the BJP “to press their majoritarian agenda of deepening the communal divide".