NEW DELHI: Chief minister Suvendu Adhikari-led West Bengal government Monday announced a committee to draft Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the state.“Former Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai to head committee to draft UCC in West Bengal,” CM Suvendu Adhikari as quoted as saying by news agency PTI.CM Adhikari announced that a draft UCC Bill will be placed before the state cabinet on July 2. The bill will be tabled in the assembly later, he said. The proposed legislation seeks to establish a common civil framework governing marriage, divorce, inheritance and adoption irrespective of religion.Ahead of the introduction of the Bill, state BJP chief Samik Bhattacharya asserted that constitutionally protected tribal communities would remain outside its ambit.“The BJP’s position on the UCC is longstanding and unequivocal. It is part of our political commitment and election manifesto,” Bhattacharya said in a social media post on X.Bhattacharya also rejected allegations that the proposed legislation was linked to family-size regulation, saying such provisions were “neither the objective nor a part of the UCC”.Meanwhile, the Trinamool Congress has accused the BJP of attempting to use the legislation as a political instrument rather than pursuing genuine legal reform.TMC chairperson and former CM Mamata Banerjee directed the party to mount an aggressive resistance to the Bill inside and outside the Assembly, arguing that the proposal raises larger questions about constitutional morality, social consent and India’s plural character.“The question is whether the UCC is genuinely being brought for the welfare of citizens and constitutional values, or whether it is being used as an instrument of political polarisation,” a senior TMC leader said, reflecting the party’s official position.
