New Delhi: Reaffirming the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) commitment to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), Union Home Minister Amit Shah said Tuesday that it will be implemented in every BJP-ruled state. “BJP government will bring Uniform Civil Code in every state,” said Shah as he pointed out how the Uttarakhand government took the initiative to introduce a civil code in the state. Shah made these comments while replying to a discussion on the “Glorious Journey of 75 Years of the Constitution of India”.
“Our government in Uttarakhand got UCC. Our way of functioning is that we follow democratic processes. A law which will bring such major changes to the society, Uttarakhand government passed it as a model law. This will be discussed on all fronts and it will be implemented,” he said in the Rajya Sabha. The Uttarakhand assembly passed the UCC in February, which subsequently received Presidential assent the next month.
Shah then accused the Congress of ‘appeasement politics’ and said unlike the opposition party, the BJP works for all sections of society. He questioned the Congress for its failure to bring in UCC during its tenure and stressed that the BJP would implement it in every state.
“Why hasn’t UCC come yet? It didn’t come because after Constituent Assembly concluded and elections were over, the country’s first PM Nehru ji introduced Muslim Personal Law, not UCC. I want to ask the Congress party in this House that, in a secular nation, should there be a common law for every religion or not? Why do they support the Muslim Personal Law?”
He also accused the Congress of being ‘anti-reservation’ and said its words and actions were contradictory.
“Congress is an anti-reservation party … In 1955, the Kaka Kalelkar Commission was formed to provide reservations to OBCs. Where is its report? It was forgotten because OBCs would have received reservations. Any report that comes has to be presented before the Cabinet, but instead of bringing it to Parliament, they kept it in the archives,” he said.
Shah said if the recommendations of the Kalelkar Commission had been accepted, the Mandal Commission would not have been formed. “In 1980, recommendations of the Mandal Commission came out, but it was not implemented. It was implemented when Congress was voted out in 1990,” he said, accusing the Congress of ‘misleading’ people.
Slamming the Congress and taking a dig at party leader Rahul Gandhi, Shah said, unlike the BJP and PM Modi, the Congress considers the Constitution as ‘private property’ of one family and its members were carrying “fake copies” of the document.
The senior BJP leader also alleged that the Congress brought in various constitutional amendments for its own benefit and not for the nation or the betterment of society.
Even before the first general election was held, then PM Nehru carried out the first constitutional amendment to ‘curtail the freedom of expression’ which led to disturbance in the House, he said. “You treat the party like your family’s property, and now you also treat the Constitution in the same way,” he said, pointing fingers at the Congress.
Shah also said that the Congress amended the Constitution 77 times in its 55 years of rule, while the BJP did so only 22 times in its 16 years in power.
The Constitution, he said, was never thought to be ‘aparivartansheel’.
Adding, “Samay ke saath se desh, kanoon aur samaj bhi badalna chaiye.”
The Union minister further accused the Congress of indulging in appeasement politics and cited the Muslim personal law as an example. He also said that Congress wanted to give reservation to the Muslim community by increasing the quota limit beyond 50 percent.
“Even if BJP has just one MP in each House, it will not allow reservation on the basis of religion. Congress should clarify if it supports Muslim personal law. Bringing in Muslim personal law was the beginning of appeasement politics in this country,” Shah said.
The senior BJP leader also accused the Congress of denying rights to Muslim women for decades, merely for “vote bank politics”.
He also came down heavily on the Congress for attacking Savarkar, saying the title ‘Veer’ was given to him not by any government, ‘but 140 crore people of the country’. Shah said Savarkar was the only person sentenced to life imprisonment twice from 1857 to 1947.
He then cited former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s praise for Savarkar and said, “You [Congress] may not listen to us, but at least listen to Indira Gandhi. In 1966, Indira Gandhi said that Savarkar was a great man.”
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