Palaniswami indicates AIADMK’s opposition to move to bring in Uniform Civil Code

AIADMK‘s general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Wednesday indicated his party’s opposition to the move to introduce the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had recently said that India needed the UCC as the country could not run with the dual system of “separate laws for separate communities.”

AIADMK‘s general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Wednesday indicated his party’s opposition to the move to introduce the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had recently said that India needed the UCC as the country could not run with the dual system of “separate laws for separate communities.”

When asked about the party’s stand on the UCC, Mr. Palaniswami told reporters at the party headquarters here, “Read our manifesto for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. We had stated our position clearly even then.” The manifesto, in the section dealing with the topic of secularism, had said that the AIADMK would urge the Union government “not to bring in” any amendment to the Constitution for UCC that would adversely affect the religious rights of minorities in the country.

Releasing the logo for the party’s conference to be held in Madurai on August 20, at the district secretaries meeting in Chennai on Wednesday, Mr. Palaniswami asserted that neither had the party suffered a split, nor had it disintegrated. “In the past one year, we faced several criticisms. The party got divided into three or four camps. The membership had gone down drastically.” Emphasising that the party under his leadership had now dispelled all the criticism, he claimed that over the past two-and-a-half months, the membership of the party had touched the 1.6-crore mark. He added, “There is no vacuum in the party.”

On the poor realisation of Cauvery water for Tamil Nadu in June, Mr. Palaniswami wondered why Chief Minster M.K. Stalin, who had been talking of the unifying of all Opposition parties in the entire country, had not spoken to his Karnataka counterpart Siddaramaiah, to secure the State’s share for the month. “After all, his ally – Congress – is in power there. Considering the interests of farmers, he should take appropriate steps,” he said, criticising Karnataka’s Water Resources Minister D.K. Shivakumar for “causing confusion” in respect of a settled matter.

The AIADMK leader also contended that the DMK was “not qualified” to speak about issues concerning Scheduled Castes as it was this party that had broken, during the adoption of a trust motion moved by him for his government, the table of the then Assembly Speaker P. Dhanapal, who belonged to the SC community, and sought to pull him in the House.

Mr. Palaniswami also announced the formation of seven committees to oversee the preparations for the party’s Madurai conference.