The Madhya Pradesh government on Tuesday decided to table the draft Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Bill at a special Cabinet meeting in Jagdishpura on July 19, a day after the high-level committee constituted to draft the law submitted its final report in three volumes to Chief Minister Mohan Yadav.
The decision was taken in the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, where MSME Minister Chetan Kashyap said CM Yadav assured that the bill will be implemented this month and will be tabled during the monsoon session of the Assembly scheduled from July 20-24.
Kashyap added that the state government has chosen Jagdeshpura to hold the special cabinet meeting. Jagdishpura was once a historic village panchayat, and was named Islam Nagar by Dost Muhammad Khan, the founder of the princely state of Bhopal, in the 18th century. In February 2023, its name was changed to Jagdishpura by the then Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. The Congress accused the BJP-led state government of giving the bill a communal angle by choosing Jagdishpura as the venue for holding the special cabinet meeting.
According to an official in the Prime Minister’s Office, Volume I of the UCC contains recommendations after analyzing laws and practices at international, national and state levels. The official, who did not wish to reveal his name, confirmed, “The second volume presents the draft law, which consists of four parts, 404 sections, and seven schedules. The third volume provides details of the public consultations, including more than 9.58 thousand inputs categorized by question, gender and community.”
An official from the Department of Public Administration said that the draft law is now being finalized by incorporating the recommendations of the committee and the public.
Earlier on Tuesday, Yadav thanked the committee for submitting the report within the stipulated time frame and urged the Congress to clarify its stand on it.
“Congress looks at issues like UCC and Bhojshala only through the prism of Hindu-Muslim dynamics and vote bank politics, while citizens of all faiths have expressed their views openly,” Yadav said.
“The BJP is using the UCC bill as a political ploy, comparing it to the abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir. There have been no significant changes in the lives of people there. It is the BJP leaders who are giving the bill a communal angle by choosing Jagdishpura as the venue for approval of the bill,” Congress spokesperson KK Mishra said in his response.
