Dehradun: The Opposition Congress on Tuesday opposed the tabling of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) bill saying they weren’t given enough time to examine it before taking part in its discussion.
The Congress said the government should have first presented the draft in the assembly before the bill so that its merits and demerits could be discussed.
The leader of opposition (LoP) in the Uttarakhand assembly and senior Congress leader Yashpal Arya said, “The MLAs who are going to take part in the discussion on the UCC Bill should have been given enough time to examine the bill. They could have tabled the bill today and initiated a discussion tomorrow. Just two hours aren’t enough to share views on such an important and serious bill. The bill has various aspects for which a proper consultation is needed. It has 392 sections, 7 schedules and 172 pages. We can only share our views after examining its merits and demerits.”
“The draft report should have been first tabled in the assembly before the bill to examine its merits and demerits,” he said.
He said they weren’t even invited to give their suggestions and take part in the meetings during the making of the UCC draft by the five-member committee.
“They didn’t seek suggestions from MLAs and me. It would have been better if they had invited the Opposition and its MLAs. They (the government) have been trying to suppress the Opposition,” he said.
“The government has the numbers in the assembly and enjoys a full majority to pass the bill, but it should have been better to take the Opposition into confidence. It would have been a better tradition for democracy,” he said.
Ganesh Godiyal, former Uttarakhand Congress chief said, “It should have been introduced by the central government, not state. And if the UCC is a secular code, why have the tribals been exempted from the ambit of UCC? They just want to target a particular community for political polarisation before the Lok Sabha polls. They are trying to divert attention from the people-oriented issues like corruption, cash-for-jobs, and unemployment.”
“We will support or oppose the bill based on its merits and demerits, but the MLAs have not been given enough time to examine the bill,” he said.
Before the proceedings began on day 2 of the session on Tuesday, Congress MLAs gathered on the steps of the state legislature and alleged the government of violation of the rules of Conduct of Business and traditions of the state assembly.
Countering allegations of the opposition, Uttarakhand parliamentary affairs minister Prem Chand Aggarwal said, “On one hand the Opposition says they didn’t get enough time to examine the UCC bill but talks about loopholes in the bill.”
