Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s fresh push to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) across NDA-ruled states has triggered differences within the alliance in Bihar, with JD(U) opposing its implementation in the state despite having supported the Bill in Parliament.
Shah has said the UCC will be implemented in all 21 BJP/NDA-ruled states before the 2029 Lok Sabha elections. While the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Andhra Pradesh has backed the Centre’s position, the JD(U) has sought wider consultation before taking a stand on implementation in Bihar.
Why state laws and not one central legislation?
But why has the Centre decided to pursue the UCC through state legislatures rather than a central law? During a discussion on The Federal’s Capital Beat programme, senior journalist and political commentator Sunil Prabhu argued that if the objective is uniformity, it would be difficult to achieve it through 21 separate state legislatures, each potentially creating its own exemptions.
He pointed to Uttarakhand and Gujarat, where Scheduled Tribes have been exempted, as an example of the complications that could arise. In his view, the question of why the Centre is not bringing the issue directly to Parliament is an important constitutional issue.
Advantage of state-by-state approach
Supreme Court lawyer Sanjay Hegde offered an explanation. He said the Constitution places the UCC under the Directive Principles of State Policy, which provide broad guidelines for states to pursue. According to him, state assemblies offer the BJP greater room to pursue the issue because it dominates many of them, whereas Parliament involves negotiations with allies. He suggested that the state-by-state approach could be part of a broader strategy.
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Hegde brought up the case of Uttarakhand, which was the first state to bring in such a legislation, but a challenge to it is pending before the state’s high court. He suggested that the state-by-state approach could allow the government to establish the model in several states and then use the experience to argue for wider implementation.
What would be ‘uniform’?
But what would constitute “uniform”? Hegde pointed to differences in customs across India. Practices relating to marriage, for instance, can vary significantly between regions and communities, raising questions about what exactly would constitute a uniform code and what exemptions would be required.
Prabhu similarly argued that the word “uniform” itself could become a central issue if different states have different exemptions. He said the legal and political battle would eventually move to the courts and that questions of equality and uniformity would have to be addressed.
He pointed out that the issue cannot simply be reduced to majority politics because India has diverse customs and personal laws. The challenge, he said, is to determine how a genuinely uniform framework can accommodate those differences.
Possible impact on state polls
But can the UCC become an electoral issue, particularly in Uttar Pradesh, which is scheduled to go to polls next year? Prabhu said the BJP could seek to use the issue to consolidate its core vote base, although he questioned whether it would necessarily produce the desired political impact.
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He also pointed to the possibility that what works in Uttar Pradesh may not work in other states. Punjab, for instance, has different legal and social considerations, making a uniform approach more complicated.
According to Hegde, the BJP’s political approach has historically involved presenting ideological projects to its core voters, including Article 370 and the Ram temple, which the party subsequently pursued after gaining political power. He described the UCC as another “ideological project” that the party now wants to advance.
May impact UP polls, but not Bihar politics
Patna-based senior journalist Faizan Ahmed said the BJP could use the UCC in Uttar Pradesh to seek to consolidate Hindu voters across caste lines. At the same time, he said the issue was unlikely to substantially alter the political equation in Bihar just because the JD(U) was asking for the proposal to be debated in Parliament, state legislatures and wider civil-society forums.
He drew attention to Nitish Kumar’s 2017 communication to the Law Commission, in which the JD(U) chief argued that any such move should be based on broad consensus rather than being imposed from above. Ahmed noted that the JD(U) never rejected the idea of a UCC outright but has consistently maintained that there should be substantive consultation with religious groups, minorities, state governments and other stakeholders.
Why NDA split is unlikely
He added that the distinction was important because none of the NDA partners had, at any point, formally rejected the UCC proposal. Instead, the JD(U), Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) led by Chirag Paswan, and Rashtriya Lok Morcha led by Upendra Kushwaha had expressed reservations or called for further discussion.
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Prabhu also agreed that a complete split in the NDA over the UCC was unlikely at this stage. He noted that allies such as the JD(U) could continue to negotiate rather than immediately walk away from the alliance.