‘No benefit, direct attack on one particular community’: Vadodara advocates protest against UCC in state

Dressed in their court uniforms, the advocates handed over a memorandum to the District Collector and urged that UCC should not be implemented in Gujarat as it has “no benefit” to offer.

Senior Advocate Ranjitsinh Rathod said, “…until the intellectual people who know law come out to speak, the government will not understand. Crores of people had protested against UCC in 2018 and the government was forced to take a step back. Then, they formed a law commission in 2022 but till date no report has been made public…”

He further said, “We want to ask what is the need for the UCC when it has no benefit for anyone? Dr BR Ambedkar had very categorically stated that Uniform Civil Code is voluntary and cannot be implemented by force.”

Rathod said the UCC was a “direct attack” on the minorities. “It is an attack on one particular community as minorities have been given personal law, especially the Shariat law for Muslims. The BJP is using its majority numbers to take away the rights of the minorities. On Monday, on the birth anniversary of Dr BR Ambedkar, the Gujarat CM heaped praises on the Father of the Constitution. So, we want to ask, what is the urge to push for a law that everyone is protesting (against)?”

In their memorandum, the lawyers stated that the Gujarat UCC Committee must be dissolved and the state government should not push for the law in the state.

Advocate Junaid Saiyyed said, “The Chairperson of the Gujarat UCC Committee, Retired Justice Ranjana Desai, has been credited with enforcing the UCC in Uttarakhand. We do not want a similar situation in Gujarat wherein whatever be the recommendations of the people, the BJP wants to use its majority and implement the law.”

Vadodara District Collector Anil Dhameliya said that the memorandum has been accepted and will be shared with the relevant department.