BJP-RSS' purpose behind bringing uniform civil code is to target minorities, alleges CPI(M) leader

Senior Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Hannan Mollah on Sunday slammed Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for his remark on Muslims over Uniform Civil Code (UCC), saying that Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party's purpose for the code is to target the minorities in the country.

Sarma had yesterday said, "Everybody wants UCC. No Muslim woman wants her husband to bring home 3 other wives. Ask any Muslim woman. UCC is not my issue, it is an issue for all Muslim women."

Speaking to ANI, the former Lok Sabha West Bengal MP, referring to Sarma, said that the "RSS-BJP man" keeps on saying such "disgusting things" to spoil the atmosphere of the country.

"Compare the number of people who have more than one wife; many non-Muslims have over two wives. But they are targeting only Muslims because this is the game plan of RSS-BJP combined," he said.

The Uniform Civil Code is a proposal in India to formulate and implement personal laws of citizens which apply to all citizens equally regardless of their religion, sex, gender, and sexual orientation. Currently, the personal laws of various communities are governed by their religious scriptures.

The code comes under Article 44 of the Constitution which lays down that the state shall endeavor to secure a Uniform Civil Code for the citizens throughout the territory of India. Notably, in BJP's 2019 Lok Sabha election manifesto, BJP promised the implementation of UCC if it comes to power.

Mollah also extended support to the stand of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who called the loudspeaker row "nonsense" and said that he won't get into the religious matter.

"Loudspeaker is a machine. When people speak out loud, then 10 people listen and 50 people listen from the machine-- so it is the work of RSS and BJP to bring the machine under the purview of communalism," he said.

Wading into the loudspeaker row, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday said there is no question of taking them down from religious places and added that the Bihar government will not "interfere" with any religious practice.

He also called the controversy around the use of loudspeakers at places of worship "nonsense".

Meanwhile, in Uttar Pradesh, as many as 53,942 loudspeakers have been uninstalled from various religious places till 7.00 am on Sunday, following the direction of the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government.

Prior to this announcement, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath issued directions for restricting the volume of loudspeakers at religious places, earlier this month.

While in Maharashtra, on April 13, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray gave an ultimatum to the state government and reiterated his demand that loudspeakers from mosques be removed.

( With inputs from ANI )