Sushil Modi slams Nitish for not taking 'clear stand' on UCC

PATNA: Hitting out at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for his letter to the Law Commission expressing his government's inability to form an opinion on Uniform Civil Code ( UCC), senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi today accused him of "giving in to hardliners in the minority community".

"It is obvious that Nitish Kumar has refrained from giving a clear opinion on raging issues such as the UCC, ' triple talaq' and polygamy due to the fear of hardliners in the minority community," he said in a statement.

Alleging "inconsistency" in Kumar's stand on empowerment of women, Modi said while the chief minister repeatedly claimed that he enforced prohibition in the state at the prodding of women, he "hesitated in taking a stand" on UCC, 'triple talaq' and polygamy, lest it infuriated the "maulvis".

"If prohibition can be enforced unilaterally at the prodding of women, why will social vices such as 'triple talaq' and polygamy be fought after taking the nod of the maulvis?," he asked.

Modi also reminded the chief minister of his stand that the imposition of prohibition was consistent with the Directive Principles of State Policy in the Constitution and asserted that UCC and cow-slaughter too came under the same Constitutional guidelines.

He wondered why Kumar was "meekly submitting to the dictates of the maulvis" when it came to taking a stand on UCC and 'triple talaq'.

The BJP leader charged the chief minister with "letting down" lakhs of Muslim women, divorced by their husbands by invoking 'triple talaq', by not taking a stand and asked him whether the country should be guided by the Constitution or "dictates of ulemas and maulvis".