New Delhi
In what could set the narrative in the run-up to the formulation of a Uniform Civil Code (UCC), Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and BJP MP Sushil Modi on Monday advocated keeping tribals, including those in the North East, out of the purview of the contentious law.
The meeting of the parliamentary panel on the UCC, expectedly, saw the opposition and the ruling sides take divergent views with the former questioning the need and the timing for taking it up.
The pitch for the UCC was made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself recently while he was addressing the BJP’s booth workers and it has already set the tone for next year’s Lok Sabha polls with the Government likely to table a bill on the legislation before the General Elections. Implementation of a UCC has been part of BJP election manifestos.
While Sushil Modi pitched for keeping tribals out of the ambit of any proposed UCC and noted that all laws have exceptions, BJP’s Mahesh Jethmalani made a strong bid for the implementation of the UCC citing debates in the constituent assembly to assert that it was always considered imperative. It was also pointed out that the central laws are not applicable in some North Eastern states without their concurrence.
Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut questioned the timing of the consultations while Congress MP Vivek Tankha and DMK MP P Wilson submitted separate written statements, asserting that there was no need to have fresh consultations on the emotive issue and that it was being raked up in view of the Lok Sabha elections next year.
With the UCC beginning to attain centrestage, as many as 30 tribal organisations in Jharkhand recently expressed fear that it will dilute the tribal customary laws and decided to urge the Law Commission not to go ahead with it. They even gave an open call for a protest on July 5 against the UCC.
The UCC move has also made BJP’s allies in the northeast, all in tribal-majority States, restive. Be it the National Democratic Progressive Party in Nagaland, the National People’s Party in Meghalaya or the Mizo National Front (MNF), they have already gone public voicing their opposition to the UCC stating the law will threaten their customary practices.
If what Sushil Modi has said is indeed the BJP’s gameplan in the long run, it could well smoothen the hurdles for its implementation to a great extent even while ensuring a major consolidation of the tribal votebank in its favour. Moreover, while it could save the Modi Government from the threat of any major social unrest and law and order problem, it could also ensure that BJP’s alliances, especially, in the northeast remain intact.
The meeting of the committee, first after the Law Commission initiated the consultation process on the UCC, was held to hear the views of representatives of the law panel and legal affairs and legislative departments of the Law Ministry on the consultation process.
The Law Commission had last month issued a public notice inviting views from the various stakeholders on the UCC under the “Review of Personal Laws” subject. In a presentation during the meeting, the Commission officials said 19 lakh suggestions have been received so far in response to its public notice on June 14. The exercise will continue till July 13. As many as 17 out of the 31 members of the panel attended the meeting.
