A parliamentary standing committee convened officials of the Law Commission and the Law Ministry on July 3 in response to a recent notice issued by the law panel seeking opinions from stakeholders on the matter after Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a strong case for the Uniform Civil Code.
The standing committee on law and personnel has scheduled a hearing to hear from representatives of the law panel, legal affairs, and legislative departments of the law ministry “on public notice issued by the Law Commission of India on June 14, 2023, inviting views from the various stakeholders on the Uniform Civil Code, under the subject’Review of Personal Laws.”
The law panel’s public notice had gotten close to 8.5 lakh answers as of Tuesday night.
A unified civil code has so far received “in principle” support from several opposition party leaders from organisations like the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), who have said that the code should be implemented by agreement after thorough stakeholder engagement.The action, according to the Congress, was only a political ruse.
Sharad Pawar, the leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), said that when the government addresses several issues, his party would determine where it stands on the UCC. It would not be proper to decide on the UCC without taking into account the opinions of the Sikh community, according to Pawar, since they are not in the mindset to endorse it.
In the meanwhile, he advocated for women’s suffrage in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies and encouraged the administration to bring this matter before the UCC.
The NCP leader said that it was also conceivable that the UCC problem was being brought up to deflect attention due to widespread discontent with individuals in positions of authority.
This suggested that despite current attempts to establish opposition unity ahead of the Lok Sabha elections next year, the opposition parties may not be in agreement on the matter.