Congress to invoke Law Commission paper on UCC in Parliament meet

Congress will base its argument during Monday’s Parliamentary Standing Committee meeting on Uniform Civil Code (UCC) on the consultation paper issued by the Law Commission in 2018, in which it said that such a code is “neither necessary nor desirable at this stage”, sources said on Saturday.

This was decided at a meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Strategy Group chaired by Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi and attended by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, General Secretaries KC Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh and Randeep Surjewala and senior leaders like P Chidambaram and Digvijaya Singh among others.

The party is sticking to its June 15 statement that the latest attempt by the Law Commission represents the Modi government’s “desperation for a legitimate justification of its continuing agenda of polarisation and diversion from its glaring failures”.

Read | What is delaying YSR Telangana Party's merger with Congress?

Sources said the Congress leadership views the current spurt in the debate on the UCC as “diversionary” tactics and does not want the BJP to chain the Opposition to their narrative in the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament. Congress believes the government wants to sidestep the Manipur violence issue and that is why it is raking up other issues.

When there is no draft, what could be discussed, sources elaborated on the Congress line of offence on the UCC.

At the July 3 meeting when the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Pensions, Law and Justice headed by BJP MP Sushil Kumar Modi hears the views of the Ministry of Law and Justice and Law Commission on the UCC, the Congress MPs would refer to the 2018 consultation paper and the argument based by the previous Law Commission.

The four MPs who are in the 30-member panel – Manickam Tagore, Vivek Tankha, Jasbir Singh Gill and Kuldeep Rai Sharma – would also question the officials, especially from the Law Commission, why there is a need for a second study when the 21st Law Commission had given its views.

“When there is a draft (on UCC), where there is a discussion, we will of course participate, examine, whatever is proposed. As of now, all we have is a public notice from the Law Commission…There is no bill, only ‘bayan bazi’ (statements),” Ramesh told a press conference after the meeting.

After the meeting, the party refused to spell out its stand on the contentious Delhi ordinance and how it would vote on the Bill, on which the AAP has been pushing the Congress. Without referring to any specific bills, Ramesh said there is no information about the bills to be brought in Parliament in the Monsoon Session and the party will take a stand when it comes.

Sources said Kharge informed the meeting about the Patna Opposition meeting where Delhi Chief Minister and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal insisted on the Congress to announce its stand that day itself. They said the party decided not to fall into pressure tactics from the AAP though they would not support any anti-federal moves by the Modi government.

During the session, sources said, the leaders also decided to raise Manipur in a big way and insist on the resignation of Chief Minister N Biren Singh, accusing him of not doing enough to stop ethnic violence in the state.

“There should not be any diversion, we should directly attack the BJP. We should set the narrative and not them,” a senior leader summed up the mood of the meeting.

Besides Manipur, Ramesh said Congress would raise issues like price rise, unemployment, job loss, attack on federalism, Governor’s over-reach and wrestlers’ protest among others during the Monsoon Session.

Sources said Kharge would be calling regular meetings with Opposition parties and Congress would coordinate with them on floor strategy.