Prashant Kishor, a former political strategist-turned-activist, expressed his views on the implementation of a uniform civil code, stating that it would have significant consequences, whether good or bad, that would surpass the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) other key agendas such as the construction of a temple in Ayodhya and the revocation of Article 370.
Kishor, known for managing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s campaign in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, emphasized that neither the country’s founding fathers nor the ideological leaders of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) were proponents of enforcing uniformity in a diverse nation.
Speaking to reporters in Bihar’s Samastipur district, where he recently resumed his ‘Jan Suraaj’ campaign after recovering from a ligament injury, Kishor expressed his doubts about the proposed implementation of the Uniform Civil Code. He stated that it would not be an easy task and was more complex than some people believed, despite being a part of the BJP’s manifesto for the past 20-25 years.
But, Kishor acknowledged that the government might attempt to progress on this issue, just as it did with Ayodhya and Article 370. He noted that if the government did not take action at present, it might still pursue the uniform civil code in the future if it returned to power with a fresh mandate.
Kishor also highlighted that the impact of a uniform civil code would be different from that of Article 370, which primarily concerned Jammu and Kashmir, or Ayodhya, which stirred a particular section of society.
A uniform civil code, on the other hand, would directly affect a large segment of the population, making its consequences more significant than the other two core agendas of the BJP.
Regarding allegations that the BJP was raising this issue to polarize the electorate communally ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Kishor refrained from passing judgment. He mentioned that neither the country’s founding fathers nor the RSS ideologues were in favor of imposing homogeneity on the country, citing interviews of former RSS chief M.S. Golwalkar as evidence of this stance.