JD(U) flags concerns on Uniform Civil Code

NDA ally Nitish Kumar, who has for quite some time has been making noises discomforting the ruling alliance, on Friday curiously chose to reiterate his party's previous stand on Uniform Civil Code asserting that “we must not impose any view without obtaining substantive consultations”.

So far there has been no indication from the government that it is making any effort to bring Uniform Civil Code (UCC), one of the three core issues of the BJP along with the abolition of Article 370 (that guarantees a special status to Jammu and Kashmir) and the construction of Ram Temple at Ayodhya.

Kumar had written a letter in January 2017 to the Chairman of Law Commission rejecting the latter's 16-point questionnaire sent to Bihar government on the UCC and had advised the Centre not to act in haste over the sensitive issue and debate over it.

Two and half years later, the JD(U) chose to reiterate it again.

The differences is that Nitish is no longer in the Opposition camp.

He was then heading a government in Bihar in alliance with Lalu Prasad’s RJD and the Congress. Six months later he re-joined the NDA reviving the 17-year-old relationship between the BJP and the JDU, which he had broken off in 2013 in protest against Narendra Modi’s elevation in the saffron party before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Developments in the past one month have once again kicked in speculation of yet another somersault by Nitish which his party has denied.

But there is a pattern, which has kicked in a buzz of a possible political realignment.

On Thursday, senior JD(U) leader and a minister in Nitish Kumar government Shyam Razak said that the JD(U) will not support the NDA government on triple talaq bill in Parliament. He said that the party is opposed to the bill and will continue to stand against it.

Earlier, miffed at being offered only one seat in the Modi 2.0 Cabinet, the JD(U) refused to be part of the government even in the future, protesting against the offer of only “symbolic representation”.

Later, Nitish Kumar also expanded his state Cabinet inducting eight members from the JD(U) and offering a single seat to the BJP to which the latter was not inclined to.

The party last week also announced that it will fight state elections in four states —Jharkhand, Haryana, Delhi and Jammu Kashmir— insisting its alliance with the BJP is limited to Bihar.

JDU general secretary K C Tyagi, who had last week made it clear that his party was in favour of the continuance of Article 370, on Friday issued a press statement saying that the JD(U) is of the view that the issue of UCC still needs in-depth consultations with various religious groups.

He said that in absence of such a process, any attempt at “premature or hasty tampering” with long-standing religious practices that deal with complex issues of marriage, divorce, adoption, inheritance and the right to property and succession, would be “clearly inadvisable.”

“The JD(U) demands that all stakeholders must be taken into confidence to make the law more broad, comprehensive and acceptable,” he said.

Nitish Kumar’s reiteration of his previous stands that are linked with Muslim communities is significant as in wake of the massive debacle in 2019 Lok Sabha polls in Bihar.

The RJD, which had turned inimical to Kumar, has been making positive noises to the extent of inviting him back in the Opposition grand alliance to defeat the BJP in 2020 Bihar Assembly polls.

In 2015, the combined grouping of the RJD, the JDU and the Congress had halted the Narendra Modi juggernaut in Bihar just a year after the BJP’s spectacular victory in 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Recently, a book by Lalu Prasad had claimed that Nitish wanted to come to back to the Opposition grand alliance just months after deserting and joining the NDA again in 2017.