Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s call to implement Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in all BJP-ruled states has created a political stir in Bihar, where the BJP and the JD(U) are running a coalition government led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
While the BJP cadre has been demanding implementation of the UCC, the JD(U) is indifferent to the growing chorus. Kumar is also of the view that Uniform Civil Code should not be implemented in Bihar as the state has a lot of cultural and social diversity.
tug of war
This is not the first time that Kumar has been at odds with his colleague. Those in the know believe that the Bihar Chief Minister was not only against the idea of abrogation of Article 370 in J&K, but was also not on the same page about the Citizenship Amendment Act.
Kumar last spoke about UCC in 2019, when he said it should not be imposed without concrete consultation. He wrote a letter to the chairman of the Law Commission in 2017 advising him not to rush before debating the UCC. A JD(U) spokesperson said whatever the party leaders are saying today is just a repetition of the chief minister’s stand.
However, BJP is not ready to give long rope to JD(U) on this issue. Firebrand BJP leader and Union Minister Giriraj Singh recently courted controversy when he said that to make India a strong nation, Uniform Civil Code should be implemented in Bihar at the earliest.
Code is one of the main agenda which was promised by BJP during the last assembly election in Bihar.
The UCC has now become a point of contention among allies, and neither side is ready to back down. Controversial issues like the Population Control Bill and the demand for a caste census have left the chief minister uneasy and wary ever since the BJP and JD(U) came together to form the government in Bihar.
Iftar politics or optics?
Photos of Kumar with opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav, who had served as deputy chief minister during iftar parties in Patna, are making headlines.
Upendra Kushwaha, a senior JD(U) leader and a close aide of Kumar, questioned the propriety of implementing the UCC in Bihar at a time when the coalition government was going well under Kumar’s leadership.
“The agenda being implemented in other states will not be implemented here until Nitish Kumar captures the fort. We will not copy other states,” Kushwaha said.
Meanwhile, prominent BJP leader and Rajya Sabha member Sushil Kumar Modi had lauded Amit Shah’s announcement recently but refused to elaborate further on the issue.
Loudspeaker ban: Another standoff?
Apart from the UCC, Kumar rejected the BJP’s demand to ban loudspeakers at religious places, saying they were not “important issues” for the state.
Political observers in Bihar say Kumar’s participation in Iftar with Tejashwi Yadav does not mean that he will switch his loyalties anytime soon.
A senior BJP leader said Kumar was getting a lot of respect in the NDA, which he would not get anywhere else. However, the future of the UCC in Bihar is still in limbo as the JD(U) and the opposition parties share similar wavelengths.
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