CHANDIGARH: The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in a letter to the 22nd Law Commission informed that the proposed Uniform Civil Code (UCC) was not in the nation’s interest and enforcing it without a genuine countrywide inter-faith consensus, especially among minorities, would violate the spirit of the Constitution and generate fear, distrust and divisive sentiments.
In a letter to the Member Secretary of the Commission by party president Sukhbir Singh Badal, the party noted “uniformity should not be confused with unity. India symbolises unity in diversity and not in uniformity. Only a truly federal structure can resolve our problems.”
The SAD chief also asked the Centre to respect the sentiments of the patriotic sikh community on UCC while urging the union government not to go ahead with the idea of a UCC.
Badal said that since no draft of the proposed UCC had been prepared and circulated by the Law Commission, it was impossible to make any tangible suggestions on the issue.
He said a concrete draft that outlines all details of the proposed legislation should be circulated among the people throughout the country so that they could give their opinions.
The issue, he argued, had already been examined in depth by the 21st Law Commission which also in its report in 2018 noted that UCC was neither necessary nor desirable.
The SAD said the Commission also observed that reforms in family laws of different communities would provide a better guarantee for securing the rights of women and children than bringing in uniform civil laws.
It also detailed how the Commission had stressed on not compromising cultural diversity or doing something that posed even a remote threat to the idea of 'unity in diversity' which will eventually pose a threat to the country's territorial integrity.
The party said in light of the observations there was nothing significant that happened after 2018 that should compel the Union government to seek the views of stakeholders afresh.
(With additional inputs from PTI)