New Delhi: Ahead of the Gujarat Assembly elections, in an exclusive interview with ABP News, Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke about the decision of the Gujarat government to set up a committee to study the modalities of implementing the Uniform Civil Code (UCC). Gujarat is the third Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled state, after Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand to have announced the move.
Speaking about the Centre’s support in the state government’s decision, Amit Shah said as far as the UCC is concerned, it was the part of the BJP agenda for a long time. It is an ideological commitment of the saffron party to the people of the country and that it was in the election manifesto from the time of Bharatiya Jana Sangh.
Talking about the opposition of Congress and Aam Aadmi Party’s opinion that it should be formulated for the country, Shah said back in the time of Bharatiya Jana Sangh, there was no AAP and the opposition of Congress is nothing new.
The framers of the Constitution had made a provision under Article 44 that the Parliament should bring a Uniform Civil Code on the basis of religion in the whole country and not any laws. Article 14 and Article 15 make it clear that every person should be treated equally, and that no one should get any special treatment or suffer injustice on the basis of religion, the Home Minister said.
It is to be noted that the Uniform Civil Code proposes for the creation of a single legislation for India that would apply to all the religious sects in regards to issues like adoption, inheritance, and divorce.
The law is mandated under Article 44 of the Indian Constitution, which states that the state must work to ensure that individuals have access to a Uniform Civil Code across the entirety of India.