By Ajay Kumar
Patna, Dec 17 (IANS): As demands for the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) are being raised in the country, Bihar's ruling Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) believes that it is an agenda for the BJP to polarise voters of the country for the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
"The UCC is one of those issues where I firmly believe that BJP leaders are confused about it. They are making it a hot topic in the country but not putting its points on table for the discussion," RJD Vice President Shivanand Tiwari said.
"If you want to implement the UCC in the country, you should bring its blueprint on which we would discuss its points. What are the points you would address through the UCC. How would you implement it? The Narendra Modi government should clarify it.
"Suppose Muslim men are allowed four marriages. Does the Narendra Modi government want to stop such a practice? Even in Hindu community, men do multiple marriages with different women. Is this the point under the UCC? The BJP needs to clarify it," he added.
Noting that the country has various religions and castes, he said that the Centre should give an idea about how it would implement the UCC.
"In the past, they (the BJP) have come up with the population control bill. Has this also been addressed by the Centre? At present, there is no clarity on the UCC. They are just making a noise to polarise voters. I firmly believe that the UCC will equally impact Hindu and Muslims or any other community of the country," Tiwari said.
Another senior RJD leader Chitranjan Gagan said: "The BJP has nothing to do with real issues like inflation, price rise of commodities and fuel, unemployment etc. They brought only those issues to achieve political goals. They have brought (removal of) Article 370, the Ram Mandir, the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the National Register of Citizens (NRC) etc. The whole idea is to polarise Hindu voters.
"The entire exercise is taking place for the 2024 Lok Sabha election."
RJD national spokesperson Mritunjay Tiwari said: "The situation in Bihar is different from other states. It will have no impact in Bihar. We want clarity from the BJP.
"The people of Bihar are living peacefully. So what is the need of it? The state government is running under the leadership of CM Nitish Kumar and people of every religion are living here peacefully. The BJP wants to disturb peace in Bihar. That is the reason why it is bringing such an issue which has no relevance to the public."
Tiwari said that in the last eight years, the BJP government "failed on every count".
"It had brought demonetisation, GST, farmers bill (which later withdrew) which badly impacted the common people. Now, they have nothing to go before the public and say that these are the achievements of the Narendra Modi government.
"The country's growth rate, enhancement of per capita income of the countrymen etc are gone downwards. Hence, they are coming with non-welfare issues to penalise the common people," he said.