Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday joined a galaxy of national leaders in expressing deep scepticism about the Centre’s bid to pitchfork the dormant debate on the Universal Civil Code (UCC) onto the forefront of the national discourse.
Mr Vijayan tweeted: “Triggering debates around Uniform Civil Code is an electoral ploy by Sangh Parivar to press their majoritarian agenda for deepening communal divide. Let’s oppose attempts to undermine India’s pluralism and support reforms through democratic discussions within communities.”
Mr. Vijayan saw a political ploy behind the BJP’s move to reignite the contentious debate on the UCC. He said the BJP’s stratagem focussed on undermining the nation’s plurality with an eye on galvanising majority community votes. The gambit dovetailed with Sangh Parivar’s attempt to impose its “one nation, one culture” agenda on a country characterised by astonishing cultural, social, linguistic, ethnic and religious diversity.
On June 29, Mr Vijayan’s Tamil Nadu counterpart echoed a similar sentiment. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi “pitched” for a UCC to exacerbate the communal divide with an eye on majority votes. Former Union Minister and Congress leader P. Chidamabaram also adopted a similar tack.
Mr. Vijayan called for a consensus, instead of a “hasty executive decision”, to amend or modernise discriminatory practices in personal laws, including those that govern marriage and divorce. He argued against “imposing uniformity with an ulterior motive”.
He said that the previous Law Commission in 2018 noted that a “UCC was neither necessary nor desirable at this stage”.
He said the proponents of the new move should explain the circumstances that necessitated a sudden deviation from the 2018 stance. Mr. Vijayan demanded that the Centre and Law Commission withdraw from their efforts to impose a UCC.
BJP’s Kerala Prabhari Prakash Javadekar said the CPI(M), which batted for a UCC, has taken a page out of vote bank politics and reversed course. He said the UCC remained in force in Goa and Puducherry. “The Muslims in those States had no complaint,” he said.
Mr. Javadekar claimed that a uniform secular set of laws was imperative for ensuring gender justice. The UCC was in tune with the Constitution’s founding principles. “Unfortunately, the IUML opposed UCC”, he said.
