Bhopal, July 1 Prime Minister Narendra Modi has strongly pitched for the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in his very first public meeting in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh on June 27 after returning from his visit to the US and Egypt.
Since then, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Home Minister Narottam Mishra and MP unit BJP president V. D. Sharma are leading the UCC campaign in the state while echoing the line of PM Modi that, "In a home, can there be one law for one member and another law for another member?"
As the poll bugles have already sounded in Madhya Pradesh, the ruling BJP has prepared to take PM Modi's message of the UCC to the grassroots in a bid to convince the people that the concept is in the interest of the country.
How will it impact the political discourse in the run up to the Assembly elections just four months away and the general elections slated for next year? Political analysts at this stage have differing opinions. They believe that it may have an impact in the Lok Sabha polls, but not in the assembly elections.
"The UCC issue may have a little impact in the Lok Sabha elections as the people would see it in terms of national interest as the BJP is setting a narrative, but it will not have any impact in the assembly elections as the people will vote for their personal interest," said N. K. Singh, a Madhya Pradesh-based political analyst.
Other political observers claimed that the UCC may have an impact in the Lok Sabha seats reserved for tribals. Notably, Madhya Pradesh has the highest tribal population in India - about 21.5 per cent, according to the 2011 Census - while SCs comprise 15.6 per cent.
Out of the 29 Lok Sabha seats in the state, 10 seats are reserved for the SC/ST and four seats are reserved for SC candidates namely Bhind, Tikamgarh, Dewas and Ujjain. Shahdol, Mandla, Ratlam, Dhar, Khargone and Betul constituencies are reserved for the ST. In 2019, the BJP had bagged 28 seats.
In the assembly elections, 47 out of the 230 seats are under the reserved category. BJP leaders in Madhya Pradesh have been tasked to refute any misinformation campaign by the Opposition related to the Uniform Civil Code especially in the tribal-dominated seats.
Sources told IANS that in a meeting held recently in Bhopal, the RSS functionaries suggested that all booth-level units be educated to counter such campaigns targeted to damage the BJP’s prospects in the tribal and Scheduled Caste (SC)-dominated seats in the upcoming assembly elections.
Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra on Wednesday slammed the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi for raising questions about PM Modi's endorsement of the UCC.
Mishra has countered Owaisi saying the latter was speaking the language of the Congress.
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