Minister Muraleedharan urges Muslims not to fall prey to anti-UCC propaganda

Thiruvananthapuram: Union Minister V Muraleedharan on Saturday appealed to the Muslim community in Kerala not to fall for the propaganda mounted by the ruling CPI (M) and others against the Uniform Civil Code (UCC). The union government’s decision over the implementation of UCC was not with an eye on the general elections scheduled to be held next year, but the Constitution is the criteria for everything, he told reporters here.

The senior BJP leader wondered whether the architects of the Constitution had written all these with an eye on the elections. He requested the Muslim community to try to understand the facts with regard to the UCC. “The Muslim community should not fall for the propaganda by the CPI(M) and others against the UCC.”

Muslims should realise that the UCC would not pose a threat to any of the rights guaranteed to the minorities under Articles 25, 26, 27, 28 and upto 30 of the Constitution. It would also not curtail the religious freedom or the rights of minorities to run educational institutions, he claimed.

Asked about Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s recent remark that the move to implement the UCC was part of the BJP’s electoral agenda, Muraleedharan wondered how it could be linked to the upcoming polls. The minister said the UCC is envisaged under Article 44 of the Constitution.

Noting that the BJP was placing the issue in the public domain, the minister asked the political opponents to welcome it without any fear. “Let the people discuss it. Let them express their views. Why are they (opposition parties) scared of debates? In a democratic system, they should welcome healthy debates and dialogues,” Muraleedharan said.

The saffron party leader termed as ‘unacceptable’ the attitude of not wanting to have any discussion on UCC. The union minister’s statement comes a day after Vijayan had alleged that the “electoral agenda” of the BJP is behind raking up the issue of the Uniform Civil Code and urged the central government to withdraw from the move to impose it.

In a statement, Vijayan, who is also a senior leader of the CPI(M), said the Centre’s move can only be seen as a plan to implement the “majority communal agenda of ‘one nation, one culture’ by wiping out the cultural diversity of the country”.