Chaibasa (Jharkhand) [India]: Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former chief minister of Jharkhand, Arjun Munda reiterated Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s remarks on Uniform Civil Code and said that it has been clearly stated that Tribals will not be affected by UCC.
Speaking to media, Munda said, “An attempt was made to create a misconception that the Tribals were going to be harmed by the UCC. It has been clearly stated that Tribals will not be affected by UCC. Their rights will be protected. Their rules and laws, their constitutional system, their customary laws, everything will be protected.”
He also asserted that this time the BJP will perform very well in the Assembly polls.
On Sunday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah released the BJP’s Sankalp Patra (Manifesto) and announced the party will implement Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in Jharkhand and will also “drive out infiltrators” coming from Bangladesh.
Outlining the 25 resolutions to mark 25 years of the state’s formation, Shah said, “Hemant Babu, a Uniform Civil Code will certainly be implemented in Jharkhand, but the identity and heritage of the tribal communities will be fully preserved.”
Responding to this, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren hit out at the BJP and said that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and Uniform Civil Code (UCC) scheme would not work in Jharkhand state.
Hemant Soren said, “They (BJP) are saying right now that they will implement NRC, UCC. We said that neither NRC nor UCC will work here, only Chota Nagpur Tenancy Act (CNT) Act, Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act (SPT) Act and PESA (Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Areas) law will work here. We have started the Guruji credit card scheme for students so that they can fulfill their ambition to become engineers, doctors, and lawyers. Under Guruji credit card you can take loans worth Rs 15 lakh to fulfill your ambition.”
Elections for 81 seats in the Jharkhand Assembly will be conducted in two phases on November 13 and November 20, with the counting of votes scheduled for November 23.