All-party meeting today ahead of winter session of Parliament
The Centre has convened an all-party meeting on Sunday ahead of the Winter Session of Parliament.
Asserting that Congress has an unambiguous stance on the uniform civil code (UCC), Opposition leader in the Kerala Assembly VD Satheesan on Wednesday asked the CPM to clarify its U-turn on the issue.
Speaking to media persons here, Satheesan said the Congress has consistently maintained its stance on the UCC which won’t change. The party has historically opposed the standardisation of personal laws that challenges the plurality of the country.
“The Congress stance on the Uniform Civil Code is firm. The Congress won’t do a volte-face on UCC as has been done by the CPM,” Satheesan added.
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He asked the CPI-M leadership to come up with a clarification of their party’s stance since party ideologue and former chief minister EMS Nampoothiripad had batted for it in 1987. “The CPM is at present opposing the UCC. We are asking the leaders of CPM whether they have changed their position that was taken by EMS on UCC,” asked VD Satheesan.
He further said that the UCC is not needed for the country. It is not an issue that would affect only Muslims.
The CPM had in the past advocated the introduction of UCC. In 1984 party stalwart Namboodiripad stoked a political controversy with statements against ‘Shariat’. In 1987 the Left party under the leadership of EMS, carried out a campaign against the Muslim Personal Law, emphasising that the importance of a comprehensive UCC is applicable to all religions.
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