Uniform Civil Code: Ambedkar was in favour of Bill, says Ramdas Athawale

Union minister Ramdas Athawale said on Wednesday that the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) would not harm the interests of Muslims or the tribal communities but it will ensure unity and harmony among communities. Addressing the media, the Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment said that Congress is spreading false propaganda that the BJP and its government will change the Constitution. Dr B R Ambedkar was in favour of the UCC, and it is needed for ensuring religious harmony, he said. “This is false propaganda being spread by the Opposition. The UCC is needed to ensure unity and harmony between Hindus and Muslims. Even B R Ambedkar, the architect of our Constitution, was in favour of UCC,” said Athawale, a Dalit leader from Maharashtra. “I want to tell Muslims that the UCC is not against you. Instead of doing politics over it, all political parties should support it. Not all tribals are against it. This law is not against tribals or Dalits or Hindus or Muslims. It is very important to bring in the UCC,” he added. The Law Commission in June invited views and suggestions from religious organisations as well as the public at large about the UCC which has been a contentious issue for long. Athawale, meanwhile, also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not “anti-Muslim” or “anti-Dalit”. The minister was here to hold a meeting with the Gujarat government officials about the status of the implementation of various schemes meant for Dalits and other downtrodden communities. No matter how hard opposition parties tried, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will once again win the 2024 Lok Sabha elections with more than 325 seats and Modi will become prime minister for the third time in a row, he said at the press conference. Rahul Gandhi will not get the chance to become the next prime minister, said Athawale, and added that the Congress leader should not politicize each and every issue. On the opposition parties’ efforts to forge unity, the Republican Party of India leader said, “Who will become the PM if the Opposition wins? Every leader, from Mamata Banerjee to K Chandrashekar Rao, Akhilesh Yadav, Nitish Kumar and even Arvind Kejriwal is saying they are the PM candidate. On the other side, our PM candidate is only Modi and my party will support him.” Asked about recent cases of atrocities on Dalits in Gujarat, the Union minister admitted that such incidents were happening. “It is true that atrocities are still happening. But the situation has improved in recent times. Many people from general category castes are coming forward to help Dalits. We all need to come forward to end the caste system,” Athawale said. Gujarat reported 1,030 inter-caste marriages in 2021-22 and 1,117 in 2022-23, he said. Recently, in a mega survey on Uniform Civil Code (UCC) conducted by News18, it was found that at least 67.2 per cent of Muslim women support the common law for all Indians for matters such as marriage, divorce and adoption. Over 8,035 Muslim women participated in the survey from 25 states and Union Territories. The participants were 18 to 65 plus, hailing from different communities, regions, educational and marital statuses. With inputs from agencies.