BJP Has Raked Up Uniform Civil Code Just for Electoral Benefits: Congress’s Prithviraj Chavan to News18

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has raked up the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) just for electoral benefits for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan said in an exclusive interview to CNN-News18.

Justifying his party’s stance of not taking a position on the debate, Chavan said, “Different opinions by different opposition parties will not disturb the unity of the opposition. It is a national issue being debated in Delhi. The Congress will take an appropriate stance after deliberation. Right now, we are not going along with the BJP. Although the Constitution has a mention that there should be a uniform law, prima facie, there are many contentious issues that need to be brought on board. Only after consulting all stakeholders, can we come at a decision."

“We have seen what happened in the past when suddenly, on the insistence of one group, people tried to take a particular stance and that backfired. I don’t want that to happen. Let the AICC working committee take a call. It will have to be a well-thought-out call as there are issues on both sides," he said, commenting on the delay.

“Broadly, I can say one thing. The BJP has made it into a Lok Sabha election issue. They want to polarize the society on religious grounds."

ON LAW COMMISSION

Seeking clarity on which laws will be implemented in the UCC, he said that the Law Commission had previously noted how it was impossible to impose uniform personal laws. “Whose laws will you impose when you say uniform law? Will it mean imposition of Hindu practices? In that case, there are certain evil practices in Hindu religion as well. E.g. Sati, which had to be abolished. Even for economic laws, there will have to be clarity. Will the provisions meant for a Hindu undivided family, as a part of the income tax laws, be imposed on other communities? Why doesn’t the government come forward and tell us that this is the initial opening dialogue, that we will give special provisions only for Hindus?" he asked.

“The law commission had earlier said that this is impossible to implement. Now, they are asking the same law commission to seek another opinion…" he said.

DEBATE SHOULD HAVE STARTED IN 2019

Chavan said the issue should have been brought up in 2019. “The BJP and PM Modi should have started the debate in 2019… implemented it in phases as and how there was agreement. Protecting human rights, protecting rights of certain communities, if the personal law discriminates against particular parts of the community, should be done only after due consultation process. It should not be a compulsion. There should be no imposition. It should not look like a majority of the society is trying to impose some views on the minority community," he said.

ON OPPOSITION UNITY

As different opposition parties differ in stance, Chavan was asked if this will hamper the opposition unity.

“Even the Congress has not yet taken an official stance. This is also being done to divide the opposition — the proposed opposition unity. When different people take different views on a particular issue, then there is tension. It is an attempt to create fissures in the opposition unity, but the opposition will be based on a common minimum programme. It doesn’t mean we will agree with everything that everybody says, else we would have been a single party. It is an effort to create fissures in opposition unity, but I don’t think it will cause any problems," he said.