Dattatreya Hosabale said it was up to the center to decide on a uniform civil code
New Delhi:
The BJP’s ideological RSS mentor called for a public debate on the Uniform Civil Code, but left it up to the government to decide whether to introduce a bill on it. In a virtual meeting on Sunday organized by the Indian Foundation of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Founding Day Think Tank, its Joint Secretary General Dattatreya Hosabale said the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) was mentioned in the Constitution under the State Principles Directive. A policy, but no deadline was recommended by the architects of the Constitution to implement the UCC.
“It’s up to the government to decide whether or not it is the right time to (bring forward a UCC bill). We need to educate people about it first,” Hosabale said, adding that the BJP and its predecessor Jan Sangh had demanded the UCC.
“There should be a real public debate about it (UCC) because it helps clarify perceptions. People didn’t know what section 370 or section 35A was. Educating people is important,” he said. he said, referring to the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution, which was abolished in August last year.
The UCC, if implemented, would override all personal laws based on scriptures and community customs with a common set of rules governing each citizen. Several petitions on UCC have been heard by the Delhi High Court.
The BJP in its manifesto ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections mentioned the UCC.
Some opposition parties such as the Communist Party of India (Marxist) have alleged that the BJP wants to keep the UCC issue alive as another electoral trump card, arguing that before any UCC-related reform, it is necessary to convince the minority. community on the need for this.
To another question during today’s virtual meeting, the co-secretary general of the RSS said he was concerned about the “slippage of public discourse”, especially on social networks. Mr Hosabale condemned the trolling and stressed that inflammatory remarks by “fringe elements” on social media did not represent the views of any organization or ideology.
