Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, in an exclusive interview, explains how his government’s move to usher in UCC is in concord with Constitutional guarantees, as are many of the stringent laws that have come out during the BJP rule in the State.
The Bharatiya Janata Party won all five Parliamentary constituencies in Uttarakhand in the last two terms; do you think the party will have a clean sweep this time as well, amid the anti-incumbency challenge?
I just want to clear one thing: this election is not for the election of a particular MP but to elect the Prime Minister; and there is no doubt that the country wants to see Modi ji return as PM once again.
Modi ne kaha hai abki baar 400 paar. Maine dekha hai jo Modi ji kehte hain wo desh ki janta kar deti hai. [Mr. Modi has given a slogan of crossing 400 seats in this Lok Sabha election. I believe the people of this country do whatever the PM asks of them.]
The only thing I keep telling people is that they must not get complacent thinking that PM Modi is winning anyway and hence they don’t need to vote. Everyone must go to vote and ensure a landslide victory for Modi ji.
Of course we are winning all five seats. If you travel in Uttarakhand, you will find people celebrating the electoral process as if a festival were underway.
You had promised to bring Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the Assembly election in 2022 and within first two years, the UCC is implemented. Why do you think a small State like Uttarakhand needed UCC?
After Independence, UCC has been one of the very first resolutions passed by the BJP. Even when Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar was framing the Constitution of India, he made a provision of UCC under article 44 [of the Directive Principle of State Policy]. During the Assembly election in 2022, we assured people of bringing in the UCC, and they honoured us with a huge mandate; this shows expressly that the people of Uttarakhand wanted UCC in law. There was a myth perpetuated in Uttarakhand: that no party repeats government in the State. But we broke that myth. History was made when the BJP won a second consecutive term. So, as promised, we made history once more by bringing in UCC.
Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
