UCC: Chidambaram says states can’t bring it; Nadda says they can

Congress and other parties have pointed out that the Constitution talks about the UCC at the national level and not at state level

A debate on whether states can have separate Uniform Civil Codes (UCC) has surfaced with senior Rajya Sabha MP and Congress leader P Chidambaram seeking to puncture BJP's campaign plank, saying that one cannot bring it in the way the saffron party envisages as only a central law could achieve it.

His comments came as the BJP has “promised” to implement UCC in poll-bound Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh and BJP president JP Nadda insisted that it could be implemented through states and asserted that his party makes election promises after due diligence.

While the BJP insists that subjects related to UCC are in the concurrent list and states can formulate UCC, Congress and other parties point out that the Constitution talks about the UCC at the national level and not at the state level. The critics point to Article 44 of the Constitution which says, "The State shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India" to buttress their point.

Ahead of the Uttarakhand Assembly elections earlier this year and now during Himachal and Gujarat polls, the BJP has announced that they will form committees to implement the UCC. Congress and other Opposition parties have criticised the BJP move as a poll gimmick.

Chidambaram made it clear that "even a first-year law student" knows that one cannot bring the UCC unless the law is amended in Parliament. Addressing a press conference in Ahmedabad, Chidambaram asked why the BJP did not bring UCC in Uttarakhand or Himachal Pradesh in the past five years while in power.

"If they are going to bring UCC in Uttarakhand...Himachal Pradesh, why did not they do it there in the past five years while they were in power. Everybody knows that even a first-year law student knows that you cannot bring UCC unless you amend the law in Parliament. How can a state government bring UCC?" he responded to a question.

However, in an interview with PTI in Shimla, Nadda said the UCC is an important issue and the party in power has to run the country very delicately.

"In society, we all have to shoulder our responsibilities. We have taken this issue state by state and have included it in the HP manifesto. We are implementing it through the state level," PTI quoted Nadda as saying.

He was responding to a question about why the party was promising to bring UCC in Himachal, which is predominantly Hindu, and whether the BJP would implement UCC at the national level.