Congress holds closed-door meeting on UCC

The Indian National Congress held a closed-door meeting among top leaders to discuss the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code on Saturday.Party sources say that the meeting was attended by senior Congress leaders like P Chidambaram, Salman Khurshid, Vivek Tankha, KTS Tulsi, Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari, L Hanumanthaiah and Abhishek Manu Singhvi."Yes (the meeting) was on UCC (Uniform Civil Code). Nothing has been decided yet, we will decide when the government will give the draft," Tulsi said as he left from the meeting.The Congress has refrained from articulating its stand on the proposed legislation till the central government comes out with a draft of the same.The promulgation of UCC will mean one law that will be applicable to all Indian citizens irrespective of their religion. The laws will cover personal matters like marriage, divorce, adoption, and inheritance, among other things.Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a strong case for the implementation of the UCC at a recent public meeting, several leaders in the Opposition voiced opposition to the proposed legislation.Reacting sharply on the matter, former Union minister and senior BJP leader Prakash Javadekar reminded the opposition that UCC was not a BJP creation but was envisaged in India’s Constitution.“This (Uniform Civil Code) is not BJP’s innovation, it is Article 44 of the Constitution which was written by BR Ambedkar,” Prakash Javadekar said.Meanwhile, Congress’ Manish Tewari too attacked the BJP over the issue. “The Uniform Civil Code issue is being stirred up only to serve the agenda of polarisation,” says Tewari on UCC.The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is going all out to bat for a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in India. Sushil Modi, the head of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice, Friday indicated that the panel would be mooting the matter in its upcoming meeting on July 3.