Ambedkar was in favour of Uniform Civil Code: Gujarat CM

Prime architect of the Constitution B R Ambedkar was in favour of a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) to bring equality among all citizens and its implementation remains an "unfulfilled task", Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said on Monday in the Assembly.

While scrapping Article 370 of the Constitution, which provided special status to Jammu and Kashmir, has relieved the people of the erstwhile state of pain after all these years, time has come to think about bringing in UCC, he said.

"Article 370 was painful and an unfulfilled task because the Constitution was not applicable in that state (J&K). However, our Constitution is flexible.

"We can amend it whenever the need arises. Till now, 103 amendments were made in the Constitution...and Article 370 was also scrapped through one such amendment," Rupani said on the first day of the three-day Assembly session here.

He was speaking on a resolution about the celebration of Constitution Day (Samvidhan Divas). The day is celebrated on November 26 to commemorate the adoption of the Constitution.

"We still have one unfulfilled task. That is equality. Appeasement can never unite the country. Equality would come if we follow the path of justice for all and appeasement for none.

"We need a Common Civil Code to bring equality in the country," said the BJP chief minister in his speech on the resolution.

"Even Ambedkar had once wrote that he had tried hard for a Common Civil Code in the country.

"We will be called true Indians only when we could do justice to all. And that is why (I am saying) that Common Civil Code is an unfinished agenda. We all need to think about (implementing it) in coming days," said Rupani.

The three-day session ends on December 11.

A UCC (also called Common Civil Code) would replace the personal laws, based on the scriptures and customs of various religious communities, with a common set of rules governing every citizen of the country.