Narendra Modi is a communicator with diverse bandwidth. Having returned after a successful six-day foreign visit on Sunday, he spoke to 10 lakh booth-level workers of the BJP virtually from Bhopal to kick-start the "mera booth, sabse majboot" (my polling booth is the strongest) campaign, setting the party's agenda for next year's General Election.
Since the mid-1980s, when he, as a state secretary oversaw the Ahmadabad municipal poll, ensuring his party's first triumph in Gujarat, Modi has relied on the party's sangathan (organisation), of which booth-level workers are the strongest link.
Addressing the Joint Session of the US Congress last week, he received 53 rounds of applause and a record 15 standing ovations. The effect of his discourse in Bhopal was equally electrifying for his party's core workers. (And it divided the Opposition; two of the 17 Patna participants, AAP and Uddhav Shiv Sena, have favoured it. Some, like the DMK, have vehemently opposed it while others have sought time to study the issue) Be it promoting international cooperation or seeking better internal cohesion within his party (while setting a cat among pigeons in the Opposition), Modi seems to easily switch bandwidth and appeal to his audience.
In Washington, he spoke of the "American Dream", in which Indian migrants are contributing. His comment addressed the USP of US: "In the past few years there have been many advances in AI-artificial intelligence. At the same time there have been more momentous advances in another AI-America and India."
In Bhopal, he appealed to the DNA of BJP workers by referring to the party's unfinished agenda - a Uniform Civil Code (UCC), listed in manifestos of Jan Sangh since 1967 and repeated in the BJP's wish list along with the Ram Mandir and abrogation of Article 370. Two of the three are done, and by citing the third, Modi conveyed to his party workers that his work is unfinished and there is a need for the BJP to gear up in right earnest for 2024.
Modi indicated that the BJP's 2024 campaign would primarily revolve around three narratives - UCC, the reiteration of corruption charges against opposition leaders and the profligacy of families in opposition parties.
This is the first time the UCC has been mentioned at the level of the Prime Minister. It does not mean it will be passed within the tenure of the 17th Lok Sabha. A debate has been triggered. It will consolidate the BJP's core base as well as throw up fissures among non-BJP parties.
Soon after Uttarakhand was retained by BJP in May 2022, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami set up a panel of experts headed by a retired Supreme Court Judge to examine the possibility of enacting UCC in that state. That panel's report is expected to be submitted by June 30. The indication is that the key recommendations may include raising the marriage age for women to 21; equal property rights for women, including Muslims; uniform child adoption laws across religions; disallowing polygamy and polyandry, and ending coparcenaries for male heirs in joint Hindu families. It may also suggest the registration of live-in relationships.
In December, a BJP Rajya Sabha member, Kirori Lal Meena, introduced a Private Member's Bill to provide for a national inspection and investigation committee to prep for UCC and its implementation throughout India and for related matters. A section of the opposition protested against the introduction of the Bill saying it will "destroy" the social fabric and unity in diversity that is prevalent in the country. The introduction motion was put to vote and passed. However, the MP didn't introduce the bill.
The common code proposal envisages uniform laws across religions to govern personal matters such as marriage, divorce, adoption, inheritance and succession. The labyrinth will be difficult to negotiate, considering that not only religions, but even Tribes have distinctive customs which they may not be willing to abandon. Framing and thereafter implementing UCC will be a long haul. The Bhopal announcement thus has to be viewed as an expression of intent.
The parliamentary Standing Committee on Law headed by BJP stalwart from Bihar, Sushil Modi, has listed UCC in its discussion agenda on July 3. Will any finality emerge prior to the Monsoon Session in July? Or will the agenda be left to the Winter Session, the last of the 17th Lok Sabha, prior to the 2024 election.
In mid-June the 22nd Law Commission issued a public notice seeking views of political parties and comments from the general public on UCC. Some 8.5 lakh responses have poured in over the past fortnight. The 21st Law Commission, whose term ended in 2018, had also sought views and had produced a consultation paper on 'Reforms in Family Law". Its successor has now revived the process.
Opposition parties, who have been crying hoarse against UCC since Modi spoke, have apparently missed these straws in the wind. These parties tend to be reactive rather than proactive in setting the nation's agenda.
Prime Minister Modi has enlarged an issue that has been in the discourse.
Saying that UCC is being used to mislead and provoke Muslim community, Modi pointed out that the UCC is envisioned in Article 44 of the Constitution. The Supreme Court has nudged for its implementation from time to time, "but those who are hungry for votes get in the way," he said.
"Today people are being instigated in the name of UCC. How can the country be run on two (laws)? The Constitution also talks of equal rights. The Supreme Court has also asked to implement UCC. These (Opposition) people are playing vote bank politics," he told his party workers. "Muslims of India should understand who those are inciting them for their own gains. Today we are seeing some people inciting others (Muslims) in the name of a uniform civil code. Even the Constitution talks about equal rights to the citizens. They (opposition) blame us, but it is they who do Muslim, Muslim."
Coming down heavily on those who opposed his government's decision to abolish 'Triple Talaq', Modi pointed out that Egypt, which he visited last weekend, had abolished the practice 90 years back, as have Pakistan, Indonesia and a host of other Islamic states.
What Modi left unsaid was that in Goa, Daman, Diu, during Portuguese rule, uniform civil laws were in force and these laws were incorporated into the Indian statute upon the liberation of these territories in December 1961.
Thus, in one state and two Union Territories of India, UCC has in effect been the law for the past six decades. No political party has registered any angst on this. In fact, when the parliamentary Standing Committee on Law visited Goa to study its impact recently, it found that people were happy and content with the Portuguese Civil Code, but wanted some archaic provisions modified.
Modi referred to the Pasmanda Muslims in his Bhopal speech. Indian Muslims fall into three categories -Ashraf (descendants of nobility and landowners), Ajlafs (backward caste converts), and Arzals (Dalit converts). Arzals are also referred to as Pasmanda (a Persian word meaning 'left behind'). The BJP's outreach among Muslims has been towards women and Pasmandas - two deprived sections.
Muslims account for 15% of India's votes. Initially, Muslims formed a reliable vote bank for the Congress. The Emergency, the Turkman Gate demolitions and the Muzaffarnagar firing alienated the community. Post 1980, when Congress returned to power, the Moradabad riots made things worse. Public memory is short. After the Janata government was formed in 1977 the Shahi Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid, Syed Abdullah Bukhari's Friday sermons used to merit discussion in the Union Cabinet. Such was the value assigned to Muslim votes by the power that be.
Since 1977, the Muslim vote has shifted from Congress to regional parties like Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress, RJD and JD (Secular). The recent return of Muslim votes in Karnataka, deserting the JD(S) camp, has given hope to Congress in neighbouring Telangana and elsewhere. The BJP strategy is to wean away a section of this vote; even if 10 per cent are attracted, it accounts for 1.5 per cent votes nationwide. In our first-past-the-post election system, many seats are won or lost by less than one per cent margins.
A UCC is mentioned as a Directive Principle of State Policy in the Constitution. Article 44 says, "The State shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India." Directive Principles are not enforceable in the court of law. The Supreme Court has, from time-to-time, nudged the government to frame a UCC. Modi mentioned this in his Bhopal discourse. "Supreme Court samay samay par danda maarti hai," he said.
One of the earliest references to UCC was made by the Supreme Court while delivering the landmark Shah Bano judgment in 1985, which proved to be a watershed in India's politics. The Rajiv Gandhi regime's dilly-dallying and ultimately succumbing to the pressures of conservative Muslims was seen by Hindus, by and large, as "appeasement" - it laid the foundation of the growth of the present-day ruling party, which, in 1985, had mere two seats in Lok Sabha.
Noting that Article 44 had remained a "dead letter" the Supreme Court, then headed by Justice YV Chandrachud (father of current Chief Justice of India), had said, "There is no evidence of any official activity for framing a common civil code. A belief seems to have gained ground that it is for Muslim community to take the lead in the matter of reforms in their personal law. A common civil code will help the cause of national integration by removing disparate loyalties to laws which have conflicting loyalties."
Modi's refrain in Bhopal, questioning "ek desh mein do vidhiyan" (two laws in one nation) perhaps reflected the spirit of the Supreme Court remarks in the Shah Bano judgment of 1985.
Instead of following the Supreme Court's advice on UCC, the Rajiv Gandhi case enacted a law to annul the impact of the Shah Bano verdict. This act gave the BJP the handle of alleging "tushtikaran" (appeasement). While talking about UCC, Modi said in Bhopal: "Tushtikaran nahi santushtikaran ki rajniti karni chahiye (Politics ought not to aim at appeasement but at satisfaction of the people)."
Modi's refrain to his party was that they must emphasise to the voters that a vote for the BJP would be a vote for their own good, while a vote for family-led parties may benefit a few families. He urged booth-level workers to establish their identities as social workers first and then project themselves as BJP members. Sensing that the distribution of tickets may not satisfy all sections, he urged the workers to look at the party symbol Lotus, and not at individuals.
The BJP in Madhya Pradesh has been affected by fissures since the induction of Jyotirdaditya Scindia from the Congress. Some of his camp followers have returned to the Congress fold. Modi's Lotus-oriented messaging was perhaps aimed at those who are not comfortable with the emerging equations.
After the Karnataka election, which has buoyed the Congress, there have been serious discussions within the BJP-even RSS publication Panchjanya has published a critique of the BJP's Karanataka performance. At this juncture, therefore, the need to appeal to the DNA of the BJP worker and core BJP voters is significant. Modi did precisely that in Bhopal.
(Shubhabrata Bhattacharya is a retired Editor and a public affairs commentator.)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author.