BHOPAL: With less than a year left for the Lok Sabha polls, Prime Minister Modi today gave out a clear indication that his government may be moving towards bringing in legislation that would eventually move towards the enactment of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the country.  "One nation, one law," he exhorted while addressing a gathering of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) here in Bhopal.

Addressing the rally PM Modi said, "How can a country function with a dual system, even the constitution recommends uniform laws for all citizens," further adding that no country can function with one law for one member of a community and another law for another member. 

UCC refers to a common set of laws mostly dealing with matters of marriage, divorce, inheritance and adoption among others, that would be applicable to all the citizens of India irrespective of religion and creed.

Along with the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and the construction of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, bringing in the UCC has been one of the three key poll planks of the BJP for several years and they have openly promised this in every election.

Blaming the opposition parties for using UCC to mislead and provoke Muslims and for political gains he said that if they had worked for the interests of Muslims then, the Muslim community would not have been lagging behind in all spheres. He said due to the exploitations of Muslims as only a vote bank they have lagged in education and thus are not able to secure jobs. 

PM Modi said, "Those supporting 'triple talaq' were doing a grave injustice to Muslim daughters and they do not even treat Pasmanda Muslims, who are backward, as equals because of the vote bank politics." 

PM Modi made a point that even the Supreme Court had advocated for a UCC, which will override personal laws of different religions, but those practising vote bank politics are opposing it, Modi said batting for the UCC with less than a year left for the Lok Sabha polls. Most opposition parties are most likely to oppose this in the parliament and if the government indeed tries to bring in a bill this is expected to cause an impasse and a deadlock in the parliament.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) however has been an open advocate for the UCC and several times in the past their leaders have said that they would support the government if its moves towards it. It has to be seen if it offers its unconditional support to BJP on his matter, if so then it will further widen the gap between the AAP and the principal opposition party Congress on pertinent issues. 

The Law Commission under the new chief, retired Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi had on June 14 initiated a fresh consultation process on UCC by seeking views from stakeholders, including public and recognised religious organisations, on this issue.