Kerala church welcomes move towards Uniform Civil Code

The Syro Malabar Catholic Church in Kerala on Sunday welcomed the Narendra Modi government's pitch for a Uniform Civil Code in the country.

Addressing reporters here, Cardinal Maran Mar George Alencherry said that he welcomes the decision of the central government to go ahead with it.

"This should take place through discussions and a consensus should emerge as ours is a hugely diverse country," said the Cardinal.

The Uniform Civil Code is intended to replace personal laws based on the scriptures and customs of each major religious community in India with a common set governing every citizen.

The Bharatiya Janata Party in its 2014 parliamentary election manifesto had promised the Uniform Civil Code.

But Leader of Opposition in the Kerala Assembly and former Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala told reporters on Sunday that the Uniform Civil Code will spell the deathknell of the nation's secular fabric.

"With the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, this is a ploy, but this is going to place people on different decks. This is an agenda of the RSS that the BJP government is trying to implement and it will cause serious repercussions," he said.

But BJP's state unit chief Kummanem Rajasekheran on Sunday said those who oppose the Uniform Civil Code are those who stand against the growth of the country.

"It's rather strange that some oppose even a discussion which is mooted on UCC. It appears that the Indian Union Muslim League is still living in the days of the Partition and it is unfortunate that the Congress party is supporting them. This is not meant to force the Hindu ideology on others," said Rajasekharan in a press release issued in the state capital.

The Union Law Ministry has asked the Law Commission to examine the issue of implementation of a Uniform Civil Code.