'Not against Uniform Civil Code': Congress on UCC in Uttarakhand Assembly

The Pushkar Singh Dhami government tabled the Uniform Civil Code Bill in the Uttarakhand Assembly today

Uttarakhand Leader of Opposition (LoP) Yashpal Arya on Tuesday stated that the Congress is not against the Uniform Civil Code Bill, that was tabled in the Assembly.

"We are not against it [Uniform Civil Code]. The House is governed by the rules of conduct of business but Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP] is continuously ignoring it and wants to suppress the voice of the MLAs based on the strength of numbers," Arya was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

"It is the right of the MLAs to express their views in the House, during Question Hour, whether they have a proposal under Rule 58 or under other rules, they have the right to raise their voices on various issues of the state in the Assembly," he added.

Congress leader Harish Rawat also hit out at the Pushkar Singh Dhami government, alleging that the rules are not being followed and that the ruling dispensation is 'very eager' to get it passed.

"No one has the draft copy and they want an immediate discussion on it... The central government is using a sensitive state like Uttarakhand for tokenism, if they want to bring UCC, it should have been brought by the central government," the former Uttarakhand chief minister said.

 

Uniform Civil Code

The Pushkar Singh Dhami government tabled the Uniform Civil Code Bill in the Assembly today.

"With the aim of giving equal rights to the citizens of Devbhoomi Uttarakhand, a Uniform Civil Code Bill will be introduced in the Assembly today. It is a moment of pride for all the people of the state that we will be known as the first state in the country to move towards implementing UCC," the chief minister had posted on X.

The passage of the UCC Bill will mark the fulfilment of a major promise made by the BJP to the people of the state in the run-up to the 2022 Assembly polls.