Secular Civil Code is Need of The Hour: PM Modi on UCC in India

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for a secular civil code in the country and said “it is the need of the hour”, hinting that a Uniform Civil Code would be brought soon.

During his first Independence Day speech in his third historic term, Prime Minister Modi highlighted the significance of doing away with discriminatory communal civil code to pave way to end of religion-based discrimination.

PM Narendra Modi said, "Supreme Court has held discussions regarding Uniform Civil Code again and again, it has given orders several times. A large section of the country believes - and it is true, that the Civil Code that we are living with is actually a Communal Civil Code in a way...I would say that it is the need of the hour to that there be a Secular Civil Code in the country...only then would we be free of the discrimination on the basis of religion..."

Top leaders in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including PM Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah, had promised to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) nationally along the lines of Uttarakhand while campaigning for the 2024 general elections.

What is UCC?

UCC refers to a common set of laws for personal matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, and succession, irrespective of their religions, for all citizens. Constitution’s Article 44, one of the directive principles of state policy, advocates UCC. But respective religion-based civil codes have governed personal matters since independence.

PM Modi's 11th I-Day Speech

In his address on the country's 78th Independence Day, Modi said it is a day to pay tribute to the countless people who made sacrifices and struggled for the country's freedom. "The country is indebted to them," he said. PM Modi spoke on wide range od topics during his address, including Kerala tragedy, India's growth pace etc. Modi paid condolences to the families who lost their members in the recent national disasters.

His first Independence Day address of his third term takes him past Manmohan Singh, who unfurled the tricolour 10 times from the ramparts of Red Fort during 2004-2014, and places him behind Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, who did the honours 17 and 16 times respectively.

Before reaching Red Fort, he paid homage to Mahatma Gandhi at his memorial.