Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said a “secular civil code” is the need of the hour and described the existing set of laws in the country as “communal civil code”, terming them discriminatory. He also urged political parties to support “one nation, one election” as frequent polls create obstacles in the country’s progress.
The promise to usher in a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) has been part of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s core agenda. With the party delivering on its promises to construct a Ram temple in Ayodhya and the repeal of Article 370 of the Constitution, it is also now the party’s only pending agenda. The BJP-ruled Uttarakhand has already published a draft UCC, which has kept the Scheduled Tribes out of its ambit.
That the PM flagged the UCC indicates that the BJP, despite losing majority at the Centre and running a coalition government, wishes to convey to its supporters that it has not lost sight of one of its core agendas. However, on both issues — the UCC and “one nation, one election” — the PM suggested a consultative approach.
On UCC, Modi said “we must hold extensive discussions”, and on the latter, he sought the support of political parties. The PM’s consensual approach indicated that his government now relies on support from the Telugu Desam Party and the Janata Dal (United), whose views on the two issues are more nuanced than that of the BJP. On “one nation, one election”, the PM “urged” political parties and “those who understand the Constitution” to “come forward” to make “one nation, one election a reality”.
In another departure from his speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort in 2023, Modi did not refer to himself in the third person. In his tenth speech, the last of his second term before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, on August 15, 2023, the PM had referred to himself in the third person on seven occasions.
In August 2023, the PM talked about how “Modi ensured” the construction of the new Parliament building, “Modi’s personal commitment” to fight corruption and “Modi’s guarantee” that India will be among the top-three economies in the world.
Then the PM had credited the electorate for forming “strong” governments in 2014 and 2019, which is “why Modi got the courage to bring reforms”. In 2019, after winning his second term, Modi said on Independence Day that “neither Modi nor friends of Modi” had contested the election, but 1.3 billion of his countrymen had.
The PM’s 2023 Independence Day speech had identified “corruption, nepotism and appeasement” as the “three evils” that the people should fight with all their might. On Thursday, the PM expressed his concern over “dynastic politics and casteism”, and said he was committed to wage a “war against corruption”. Modi said his fight against corruption will continue with sincerity and at a faster pace. The PM bemoaned that some people were “glorifying” and “celebrating” corruption.
The PM said India needs to be liberated from dynastic politics and casteism. “Today, I see that the young people in front of me are associated with the ‘MY Bharat’ organisation. It is written very well. ‘MY Bharat’ has several missions. One of the missions is to bring one lakh young people into political life as representatives as soon as possible. Initially, we want to bring forward one lakh young people whose families have no political background — those whose parents, siblings, uncles, aunts have never been involved in politics, in any generation. We want fresh blood, one lakh such talented young people, whether they come into the panchayat, municipal corporations, district councils, state assemblies, or the Lok Sabha. We want new young people with no previous political history in their families to enter politics so that we can be freed from casteism and dynastic politics, thereby enriching democracy.”
In his August 15, 2023 speech, Modi had said the current period of “reform, perform and transform”, a phrase he first used in the 2016 speech, would strengthen the foundation of the coming thousand years, and promised to list the government’s achievements “next time on August 15, from this very Red Fort”. The PM didn’t repeat the phrase or a reference to the next thousand years but did refer to some of the government’s accomplishments of the last 10 years.
Opposition slams PM
Opposition INDIA bloc parties accused the PM of peddling a “divisive agenda” with his “communal civil code” remark. The Congress termed the remark as a “gross insult” to Dr B R Ambedkar. The Congress also alleged that Modi’s capacity for “malice, mischief, and maligning” history was on full display at the Red Fort.
In a post on X, Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh pointed to paragraph 1.15 of the 21st Law Commission’s report that had advised against a UCC. The Commission, in its August 2018 report, had noted that specific groups or weaker sections of society must not be dis-privileged in the process of drafting a UCC. “This Commission has, therefore, dealt with laws that are discriminatory rather than providing a uniform civil code, which is neither necessary nor desirable at this stage,” the Commission had said in its report. Other constituents of the INDIA bloc also criticised the PM’s address to the nation.
The Congress also said that making Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi “sit in the fifth row” at the Independence Day celebrations at the Red Fort betrayed the PM’s “pettiness” and lack of respect for democratic traditions. The opposition party’s attack came after sources involved in organising the event said it was decided this year that “Paris Olympics medal winners” would be honoured as special guests at the celebrations.
Congress general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal said, “Modi ji, it’s about time you wake up to the new reality post-June 4th. The arrogance with which you relegated Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi ji to the last rows during the Independence Day ceremony shows that you have not learned your lesson.”
“The defence ministry’s feeble explanation that it was out of ‘respect for Olympians’ doesn’t cut much ice. While Olympians deserve every bit of respect, I wonder how Cabinet ministers like Amit Shah or Nirmala Sitharaman ji got front row seats ahead of them,” he said.
According to protocol, the LoP of both Houses must also be seated in the front row but the seats for Gandhi and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge were in the fifth row, he said.
“This was not only an insult to the post of LoP or Rahul ji; it was an insult to the people of India, whose voice Rahul ji represents in Parliament. It’s amazing how uncomfortable the truth can make some people — so much so that they’d rather rearrange the seating than face it,” Venugopal said in a post on X.
First Published: Aug 15 2024 | 9:02 PM IST
