Concerns discernible on the minority faces
Wednesday, 07 February 2024 | PNS | UTTARKASHI
In latest news from Uttarakhand, with the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Bill being all set to become an act, a communal divide is clearly discernible in Uttarkashi district. While the activists of the Hindu organisations like Vishva Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal were found in celebratory mood after the bill was tabled in the specially convened assembly session gloom was palpable on the faces of the people belonging to the minority communities. The VHP/ Bajrang Dal members gathered in the main market of Uttarkashi town and recited religious scriptures with a senior VHP leader Ajay Badola lauding the UCC initiative as historic. “This is a significant step towards making India an egalitarian society based on gender and religious equality. People across the religion spectrum should throw their full weight behind it,” he said. The persons this correspondent talked to on this matter, by and large, echoed the same view though a few sounded alarmed over the possibility of the UCC Act infringing on the rights of the minority communities. “We are happy. This is long overdue. We are looking forward to its implementation in the State,” said Ramesh Shah. Conversely, another man said that the bill boded ill for the religious freedom of the people from minority communities. “We fear it would rob them of their rights to live according to their long-continuing customs and conventions regulating their marriage, divorce and inheritance for ages. It is a move meant to box them in fixed grooves without freedom to live according their faiths,” said a trader insisting on anonymity.
