India News | UCC in Uttarakhand Only for Political Mileage: Harish Rawat
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. Uniform Civil Code (UCC) brought by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Uttarakhand is only for "political mileage," former chief minister Harish Rawat said on Friday.
New Delhi, Dec 20 (PTI) Uniform Civil Code (UCC) brought by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Uttarakhand is only for "political mileage," former chief minister Harish Rawat said on Friday.
At an interaction with journalists at the Indian Women's Press Corps (IWPC), Rawat said the common civil code is not a state issue, and if every state frames its law, it would not be "uniform."
"UCC is not a state issue. The name itself defines that it means a common civil code for the whole country. If every state frames its laws, how would it be uniform?" he said.
The Congress leader said the state government has not been able to frame the rules around UCC so far.
"Even in a small state like Uttarakhand, some communities had to be kept out of the UCC, so how is it a common civil code?" he said.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, while replying to a debate on the Constitution in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, said that every state with a BJP government would bring in the UCC the way it was done in Uttarakhand.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has said the Uniform Civil Code will be implemented in Uttarakhand in January.
Asked about recent incidents of communal tension in Uttarakhand, Rawat said the BJP is creating a social divide as it doesn't have any socio-economic development agenda.
Asked about Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's entry into Parliament, Rawat compared it with Lakshman accompanying Ram.
"The fight in Parliament will be sharper... Democracy will benefit from this," he said.
He also demanded the CCTV footage of the Thursday clash between BJP and Congress MPs in the Parliament complex be released.
"The Speaker and Chairman should release the CCTV footage of the incident. The ruling party is manipulating facts. They made our 82-year-old warrior fall," he said.
Rajya Sabha Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge fell during the scuffle.
On 'one nation, one election,' Rawat said it would impact the regional parties and federalism adversely.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)