"They could implement UCC but would still lose LS polls in U'khand": Congress's Imran Pratapgarhi shreds BJP

New Delhi [India], February 6 : On a day when the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Bill was tabled in the Uttarakhand Assembly for discussions and passage, Congress leader Imran Pratapgarhi on Tuesday said while the ruling BJP might roll out uniform civil laws in a bid to consolidate its vote banks, it would still lose the Lok Sabha elections in the state.
Speaking to ANI on Tuesday, the Congress leader said, "The Uttarakhand government has failed the state and its people on all fronts, including its primary mandate to ensure law and order. They could implement the UCC to consolidate their vote banks but would still close the Lok Sabha elections in the state."
Also weighing in on the issue, Maulana Khalid Rasheed Farangi Mahali, executive member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), told ANI, "Once the draft UCC is placed before the Assembly, our legal team will go over it and we will decide our next course of action thereafter."
"Our position on the UCC is that uniformity cannot be brought into each and every law if a certain community is kept out of its ambit. How could it be called a uniform code then? There was no need to bring a uniform civil code," Pratapgarhi said.
Meanwhile, All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) MLA Aminul Islam, too, asked if the proposed civil laws could be called uniform if the Adivasis and Dalits are kept out of their ambit.
"I can't see the sense in implementing the UCC in Uttarakhand when the government has already granted an exemption to the Adivasis and Dalits. How are these laws going to be implemented across faiths and communities if the Adivasis and Dalits are not brought under their ambit? By implementing the UCC, they (the BJP government) want to deprive certain sections of the population of their social, legal and religious rights. We are opposed to the UCC Bill," he said.
Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami tabled the Uniform Civil Code 2024 Bill at the Assembly in Dehradun.
The Bill proposes uniform civil laws pertaining to marriage, divorce, succession, live-in relationships, and other related matters.
Among the many proposals, the Uniform Civil Code Bill makes it compulsory for live-in relationships to be registered under the law.
Once the proposed UCC Bill is implemented, live-in relationships will have to be registered under the law within a month from the "date of entering into the relationship". To be in a live-in relationship, adult couples will have to obtain consent from their parents, as per the UCC.
The Bill also proposes a complete ban on child marriage and introduces a uniform process for divorce. The Code further gives women across faiths equal rights when it comes to claiming their rightful share of their ancestral property.
In March 2022, the Dhami government declared the setting up of a committee to prepare the UCC draft.