LUCKNOW: Bahujan Samaja Party chief and former UP CM Mayawati, on Sunday, said that her party was not against Uniform Civil Code but flayed the ruling BJP for "politicising” the issue just ahead of the 2024 general elections.
“Our party (BSP) is not against the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code but we do not support the way BJP is trying to implement it in the country. It is neither proper to politicise this issue nor it should be forcefully implemented in the country,” said the BSP chief while interacting with media persons here.
“The UCC will not weaken the country but strengthen it and also lead to communal harmony….but people having faith in various religions live in the country. They have separate practices and customs and it should not be overlooked," Mayawati cautioned.
She stressed that the UCC should be implemented only after general consensus on the matter. “There should not be politics over the UCC. The Article 44 of the Constitution clearly states that the state shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a Uniform Civil Code through the country,” she added.
However, the BSP chief launched a broadside on the ruling BJP over the issue of UCC saying that the ruling party was trying to rake up the issue to divert the attention of the public from contentious issues and problems faced by the country.
Mayawati's statement comes amid the raging debate over the implementation of UCC, a commitment, which the BJP had been reiterating for years in its manifestos. The debate surrounding the contentious issue gained momentum again last month after the Law Commission of India called for fresh suggestions from public and religious organisations on the issue.
In the same connection, PM Modi, on Tuesday, raised the UCC pitch while interacting with BJP cadre across the country through a video link anchored by the MP government.
Modi, during Tuesday's rally, alleged that the opposition was trying to incite the Muslim community in the name of UCC and had slammed the policy of appeasement, which he said was behind the “backwardness” of some social groups.