what is the government plan for uniform civil code

Narendra Nath
The discussion on Uniform Civil Code is heating up once again. The debate on this intensified when recently the Law Commission asked people to give their opinion on this. Then such a political message went that BJP can raise this issue before the next year’s general elections. Actually Uniform Civil Code is an old demand of BJP. But at the level of the government and the party, the BJP does not appear to be in a hurry on this issue. The party wants to move forward only after a comprehensive consideration and all the multiplications on this. The process of taking people’s opinion on this, which started in the past, is being called normal. This matter has reached the Supreme Court many times before. Every time the court said that the government has the right to make laws within the constitutional framework. Obviously, the government is taking extra vigilance regarding enacting a law on this.

In the politics of the country, BJP made its inroads with three important emotional issues. Removal of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir, construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya and implementation of Uniform Civil Code in the country. Somewhere these three issues have been a mixture of Hindutva and nationalism. Of these, the BJP has implemented the first two issues in its 9 years of rule so far. In such a situation, speculations have started that BJP will go among the public for the mandate of the third term only after implementing the Uniform Civil Code.

What is BJP’s strategy
According to top BJP leaders, this is such a tricky issue on which the government will tread lightly. In February this year, the then Law Minister Kiren Rijiju had said in Parliament on behalf of the government that no decision has been taken yet in the matter of implementing the Uniform Civil Code. But the government had requested the 21st Law Commission of India to give its opinion after looking at all aspects related to all the issues and issues related to it.

This has been a long standing demand of the majority in the country. In such a situation, it was naturally believed that by moving forward on this issue, the Modi government would like to send a message before the elections that it is with their interests. Also, Modi government can present it as a reform like triple talaq. But a top leader of the BJP and the government said that many things have to be seen before implementing it. According to the indications being received now, the party may implement the Uniform Civil Code in phases in any small state ruled by it. Then after seeing its effect and on the basis of people’s feedback, it can move towards implementation in the whole country or other states. Along with this, the intention of the party is that parallely the dialogue on this issue should continue in the whole country. In such a situation, even if there is talk or politics on this issue before the general elections, there is little possibility of its implementation. But as a BJP leader said, no one can predict when PM Narendra Modi will surprise with a decision.

Despite the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code being an old promise, if the BJP is moving forward on this issue with bated breath, then there are strategic reasons behind it. If the Uniform Civil Code is implemented, it will affect the tribal, Christian and Sikh communities along with the Muslim community. It will also have an impact in the North-East. In such a situation, the political risk of this issue can be in those areas. By the way, the BJP government has already made a law on divorce. Till now most of the organizations of Muslims have also adopted the strategy of remaining silent in the process of implementing this law. In such a situation, BJP wants to assess that if the Uniform Civil Code is implemented then what kind of reaction will be there in other religions, because according to experts, it will affect more or less all. In such a situation, the party would also like to see how the followers of other religions accept this change. The biggest concern is of the tribals. Their rules and regulations have also been different. BJP is also not quite sure how they will accept this change.

Middle class is also worried
It is known that the continuous victory in tribal seats in 2014 and 2019 has been an important reason behind the political success of BJP. After independence, the Congress always maintained a foothold among the tribals, but after 2014, the BJP changed the trend under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi. In such a situation, BJP would not want to lose this advantage due to the impact of Uniform Civil Code. Similarly, BJP wants to strengthen the NDA by increasing its clan before the general elections. For this, there is talk of the Akali Dal returning to the NDA again. The stand of leaders like Chandrababu Naidu has also been against the Uniform Civil Code. In such a situation, BJP has to decide whether to take the risk of upsetting them just before the elections. At the same time, the party will also assess that if this issue comes to the fore, there will be a fierce political battle on it. Due to this, development or other agenda can be left behind. It is difficult to say how the middle class or urban section will respond to this. These days the opposition is promising welfare schemes and freebies. This is the reason that even though the BJP government has started the process of seeking opinion from the people on this issue, but before arriving at any decision, it will take a decision on moving forward only after assessing all the aspects 360 degrees.