Kerala Chief Minister Vijayan on the BJP's UCC proposal to implement "one nation, one culture"

Pinarayi Vijayan, the chief minister of Kerala, claimed on Friday, June 30, that the BJP is using the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) issue as part of its "electoral" strategy and that the Center is trying to carry out the "one nation, one culture" agenda by reducing the nation's cultural diversity.

Vijayan called on the Center to reconsider its decision to enforce the UCC.

The Chief Minister, a senior leader of the CPI(M), said in a statement that the Center's action can only be interpreted as a strategy to carry out the "majority communal agenda of 'one nation, one culture' by wiping out the cultural diversity of the country".

He declared, "The Central Government and the Law Commission should withdraw from the move to impose the Uniform Civil Code."

Instead of enforcing a UCC, the Kerala chief minister stated that efforts should be made to change and reform discriminatory practices found in personal laws.

"Sangh Parivar uses the Uniform Civil Code debate as an electoral ploy to advance their majoritarian agenda of widening communal divides. He tweeted, "Let's oppose any attempts to weaken India's pluralism and support reforms through democratic discussions within communities."

According to the Chief Minister's statement, there have been internal reforms in every religion, and an executive decision cannot address these issues.

According to Vijayan, who cited the previous Law Commission's 2018 opinion that a UCC was "neither necessary nor desirable" at this point, the supporters of the new move should first explain how the circumstances to depart from that position suddenly arose.

According to him, the nation's distinctiveness lies in its acceptance of diversity and distinctions rather than suppressing plurality in favor of uniformity.

"Rather than unifying them based on a particular agenda, what is needed is to reform personal laws in tune with the times," he continued.

The Chief Minister's comments were made a few days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi advocated for the country to adopt a Uniform Civil Code and claimed that Muslims are being provoked over the matter.

Speaking to party workers in Bhopal on June 27, the Prime Minister claimed that although the Supreme Court has supported a Uniform Civil Code, those engaged in vote-bank politics are against it.

With less than a year until the Lok Sabha elections, he also questioned how the nation could have two systems, a topic strongly associated with the BJP.

Farooq Abdullah, the former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, stated on Thursday that the Central government should "rethink" its decision to implement UCC in India or risk creating a "storm."

"They (Central government) should think that the country is diverse, people of all religions live here, and Muslims have their own Shariat law," Abdullah told reporters. They ought to consider it often. They ought to consider any potential storm that might arise from doing that (implementing UCC).

M K Stalin, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, had earlier claimed that the prime minister was "looking to escalate religious conflicts and confuse people to win (elections)." According to news agency ANI, Stalin stated, "I am sure, people will teach a lesson to the BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections."

With an eye toward the 2024 elections, the BJP has made implementing the UCC its top priority. Going in the right direction, BJP-run states like Goa have already put it into effect. In Uttarakhand, a pledge was made in this regard prior to the Assembly elections in 2022; it was also included in his election manifesto.

A five-person committee led by a retired Supreme Court judge has been established by the Pushkar Singh Dhami-led Uttarakhand government to draft UCC for the state.

In order to give citizens equal justice, the Center has been relying on the Supreme Court, which has repeatedly given the go-ahead in a few cases. The Supreme Court's decision to outlaw triple talaq reflected this.