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Uniform Civil Code: Akali Dal makes its opposition clear, says don’t create ‘fear psychosis’

Uniform Civil Code: Akali Dal makes its opposition clear, says don’t create ‘fear psychosis’

Often questioned by other parties over its stand on the issue that has always been on the agenda of the central BJP,  while it was the latter’s ally, the Akali Dal-controlled SGPC passed a resolution criticising any plans for a UCC this week.

As the BJP renews its push for a Uniform Civil Code (UCC), promising to bring the same in poll-bound Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, former ally Shiromani Akali Dal has slammed the move for creating a “fear psychosis among minorities”.

Often questioned by other parties over its stand on the issue that has always been on the agenda of the central BJP,  while it was the latter’s ally, the Akali Dal-controlled SGPC passed a resolution criticising any plans for a UCC this week.

Senior Akali Dal leader and former MP Prem Singh Chandumajra told The Indian Express: “The basic character of India is unity in diversity, as underlined in the Constitution. Pushing the idea of a UCC is like making people pass through the eye of a needle. This is not acceptable to us. The Constitution underlines the federal character of the country, calling it a Union comprising states, and it is not unitary in nature.”

Former Akali Dal Rajya Sabha MP Naresh Gujral said that, instead of pushing such a move, “Let us have a debate first for five to six months in Parliament, in committees at different levels and in society. Why rush it?…. Why push for something which creates a fear psychosis, distrust or anger in the minds of the minority community.”

Calling harmony of “paramount importance”, Gujral added: “In a multi-cultural, multi-religion, multi-linguist society, it is very important to maintain communal harmony. Unfortunately, such issues are raised by a particular political party during elections for political purposes.”

The longest ally of the BJP, till the two parted ways over the farm laws issue, the Akali Dal always found itself on the backfoot in the coalition over the UCC. The Sangh Parivar’s vision of Sikhs as part of the larger Hindu umbrella also did not fit well with the Akali Dal’s own Panthic politics. The two parties had managed to keep the peace by ensuring that such contentinous issues were not raised in Punjab, where the Akali Dal was the senior partner.

Senior Akali leader Balwinder Singh Bhunder said the party has “openly” opposed a UCC in a “multi-religion, multi-cultural and multi-linguistic society” like India. “The government should not interfere in any religion. Everyone should have the right to profess their religion,” he said.

Bhunder added that he saw no contradiction between the party’s opposition to a UCC and support for abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution relating to special rights of Jammu and Kashmir, while the Akali Dal was part of the Modi government. Kashmir-based parties see the move as part of the BJP’s agenda to impose a uniform idea of India across, particularly in the country’s only Muslim-majority erstwhile state.

“We supported the abrogation because the Sikhs in J&K wanted it, being in a minority there,” Bhunder argued, while noting that J&K was once under Sikh rule, led by Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

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