If one family can't run on 2 laws, how can the nation: PM Modi pitches for UCC in poll year
Aditi Tandon
New Delhi, June 27
In first public remarks on the need for a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in an election year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said if one family cannot run on two laws, how can a nation?
Addressing BJP’s 10 lakh booth workers virtually from Bhopal on Tuesday, the prime minister launched a blistering attack on the opposition parties seeking to unite against the BJP and dismissed them as a pack of scamsters.
“Some days ago, some parties gathered for a photo session. Between them they represent a scam of Rs 20 lakh crore. These parties can offer only one guarantee—the guarantee of scams. But if they have a guarantee, Modi has a guarantee too—a guarantee of action against every scamster and every thief who looted the resources meant for the country and its poor,” a visibly charged prime minister said, accusing the Congress-led opposition of practising the politics of appeasement and vote bank and in the process leaving several nomadic, backward and Scheduled Castes behind.
“The path of appeasement and vote bank does not require struggle. It can yield temporary benefits but will prove gravely detrimental to the nation. The BJP is walking the path of 100 per cent saturation of government schemes without discrimination,” the PM told the booth workers who engaged in a dialogue with him asking how they should conduct the voter outreach at booth level.
Answering questions from women BJP workers on the issues of UCC, triple talaq and misgivings among the Muslims, the PM asked if triple talaq was an essential part of Islam why did Muslim majority nations like Egypt, Bangladesh, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan not practise it.
“By hanging the noose of triple talaq on Muslim daughters, some people want the freedom to keep harassing them. But my Muslim daughters and sisters support me and the BJP wherever I go. India’s Muslims will have to understand which political parties are misleading and destroying them for vote bank politics,” the PM said, referring to continued exploitation of Pasmanda Muslims in India.
The PM also listed a range of castes that, he said, had been left behind in the race of development due to appeasement politics of the opposition-led governments. He mentioned the lagging castes in Telangana, Bihar, Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Speaking on the UCC, the PM asked whether one family could run if there were two laws for two members.
“These days Muslims are being misled in the name of UCC. Can a family run if there is one law for one member and another for another member? How can the country run with two laws?” the PM asked, signalling the BJP’s intention to bring in a law for UCC with the Law Commission working on the draft.
The PM said the Constitution speaks of equal rights for all citizens.
Attacking the opposition for opposing UCC, the PM said, “Had these people (opposition) been Muslim sympathisers, the community would not have lagged in education and jobs. The SC has repeatedly asked for the enactment of UCC but these vote-bank-driven people are raising hurdles.”
The PM questioned the previous governments for lack of facilities for backward Muslims and said, “People practising vote bank politics have completely destroyed Pasmanda Muslims.”
Urging BJP workers to have sympathy and not anger for the opposition parties seeking to unite against the BJP, the PM said, “It is the compulsion of these parties to unite.”
The PM appealed to the people to vote for the BJP if they wanted to protect the interests of their sons and daughters and vote for opposition parties if they wanted to further the interests of dynasts and their descendants.
