Uniform Civil Code bill tabled in Uttarakhand Assembly

Dehradun: The Uniform Civil Code bill – which proposes uniform marriage, divorce, land, property and inheritance laws for all citizens irrespective of their religion in Uttarakhand – was tabled in the state assembly on Tuesday.

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami presented the bill in the House. In a symbolic gesture, he entered the assembly with an original copy of the Constitution.

Treasury benches welcomed the tabling of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) bill with thumping of desks and chants of "Jai Sri Ram" and "Vande Mataram". The bill will now be debated in the assembly before being passed.

Once it becomes an Act, Uttarakhand will become the first state in the country after Independence to adopt the UCC. It has been operational in Goa since the days of Portuguese rule.

Before the bill was tabled, there were protests inside the House by opposition members who said they were not given time to study its provisions.

"It seems the government wants to pass the bill without a debate in violation of the legislative traditions," Leader of Opposition Yashpal Arya said.

Slogans were also raised by the opposition members who were pacified after Speaker Ritu Khanduri assured them that they would get enough time to study the bill.

The ongoing session of the state assembly was convened especially for the passage of the UCC bill. Passing legislation on the UCC will fulfil a major promise made by the BJP to the people of the state in the run-up to the 2022 Assembly polls, which saw the saffron party storm to power with a landslide victory for the second consecutive term.

Several BJP-ruled states in the country, including Gujarat and Assam, have expressed their keenness to follow the Uttarakhand UCC as a model.