New Delhi, Apr 14 (IANS): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) unveiled its election manifesto on Sunday and promised to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) across the country to ensure ‘gender equality and protecting the rights of women’, after returning to power in 2024.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the ‘Sankalp Patra’ was the party’s pledge to empower four strong pillars of developed India – Youth, women, poor and farmers.

BJP’s poll promise of UCC roll-out, pan-India, has elicited many political reactions.

Manu Guar, one of the members of the drafting committee for Uttarakhand UCC, has hailed the party’s pitch for UCC and said that the state model can serve as the basis for the law at the Central level.

In an exclusive conversation with IANS, Manu Gaur said that the Uttarakhand UCC draft was prepared after a mammoth public outreach for about 20 months and widespread consultations with various stakeholders.

It incorporated almost all aspects of uniformity in law and addressed the concerns of all sections and hence could serve as the ideal blueprint for the Centre.

Explaining the reason behind getting the President’s nod for Uttarakhand UCC, he said that there were some specific provisions in the law which exceeded the state’s mandate and hence needed the assent of the President.

Earlier this year, the BJP government in Uttarakhand enacted the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), replacing religious personal laws that governed marriages, divorces, inheritance and other civil issues.

Manu Gaur, also the Taxpayers Association of Bharat (TAXAB) President lauded the inclusion of UCC in the BJP 2024 manifesto. He wrote on X, “Uniform Civil Code will soon be implemented in whole Bharat like Uttarakhand.”

He told IANS that the UCC law seeks to establish a uniform law for the whole country in relation to marriage, divorce, inheritance and more, for all communities.

He also rubbished the Opposition’s charges that it would lead to hatred and religious disharmony in society.

Gaur, who is also a part of the 9-member committee for laying out rules for UCC, told IANS that a comprehensive framework was in the works to facilitate an easy and people-friendly roll-out of the law.

He said that web portals and mobile applications are being developed to allow people to lodge complaints without much hassle.

Notably, the nine-member committee was formed for the successful implementation of the provisions of the Uniform Civil Code Bill 2024. The Committee has been mandated to prepare a draft of the rules, in which facts related to various procedures, competent level authorities and easy implementation of the provisions of the proposed Act would be included.

Uttarakhand’s UCC is expected to be the blueprint for other states as well including Gujarat and Assam that have promised to implement the law.