New Delhi, September 23, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
The Congress on Wednesday questioned the functioning of the Maharashtra government-appointed committee preparing a framework for a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the state, following the resignation of former Bombay High Court judge R.C. Chavan from the panel.
Congress General Secretary and communications in-charge Jairam Ramesh said Chavan’s resignation raised wider questions about the committee’s functioning and the rationale for different states adopting separate versions of a UCC.
Chavan resigned from the seven-member committee on September 19, citing differences over its functioning and objecting to the alleged involvement of an “outsider” in its work.
Ramesh questioned whether the framers of the Constitution had envisaged individual states introducing separate UCC frameworks.
“Did the Constituent Assembly ever imagine a situation in which every state would enact its own separate version of a UCC?” he asked in a post on X.
He further questioned whether the Constitution’s architects, led by B.R. Ambedkar, had contemplated states adopting different UCCs based on the political calculations of individual parties.
The Congress leader argued that state-level UCCs were not envisaged in the Constitution and claimed that the frameworks adopted or proposed by different BJP-ruled states contained variations in provisions, penalties, procedures and exemptions.
The party also accused the Narendra Modi government of using the UCC issue to divide and divert public attention instead of pursuing it as a legal reform through consultations and broader consensus.
Ramesh further alleged that the government had disregarded the findings of a commission constituted to examine the issue because its conclusions did not suit the government’s political agenda.
“Over the last three years, one BJP-ruled state after another bulldozed through its own version of a Uniform Civil Code,” he said.
Referring to Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s recent statement that the UCC would be implemented in all NDA-ruled states before the 2029 Lok Sabha election, Ramesh alleged that other NDA partners had been silenced by the BJP.
The Congress also alleged that critics of the UCC, including members of the ruling alliance, were being prevented from raising concerns over the differing provisions being introduced by BJP-ruled states.
The Maharashtra committee’s mandate is to prepare a draft framework for implementing the UCC in the state.
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