Has BJP secured tacit support of KCR on Uniform Civil Code?

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party has apparently secured the tacit support of K Chandrashekar Rao-led Bharat Rashtra Samithi on the issue of the Uniform Civil Code to push it through Parliament. This happened after days of back-channel talks between the two parties which got a stamp of approval after KCR gave his nod.

Sources stated that the saffron unit doesn’t want to take any chances on one of its core manifesto issues and is working towards securing extra support for the proposed legislation. 

Hours after the NewsDrum report, KCR said his party would oppose the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) if a bill is introduced in Parliament.

Also read: How the UCC Bill in Monsoon Session will trap opposition

It is learnt that top leadership of the saffron party has reached out to KCR on the UCC issue and has received positive feedback from the BRS leadership, sources said.

The move of the BJP came after the majority of Opposition parties decided to oppose the Centre's proposal to implement UCC. The BRS has over the past few days preferred to remain “neutral” and not revealed its stance on the controversial move by the Narendra Modi government.

The BRS is treading carefully on the politically sensitive issue with Assembly polls also scheduled to take place in Telangana next year.

Interestingly, the BRS had earlier abstained from voting when the ‘triple talaq’ Bill was tabled in Rajya Sabha, a move that was seen to back the BJP’s much-touted move towards providing gender justice to Muslim women. 

The strategists at BRS feel that with just about 15 per cent of voters from the Muslim community in Telangana, it can afford to offer tacit approval for the proposed UCC.

The securing of the tacit support from the BRS leadership is seemingly the reason that the BJP is confident in pushing through the UCC in both Houses of Parliament. 

While the UCC bill is expected to be passed in Lok Sabha easily, it could face some resistance in Rajya Sabha where the saffron party does not have adequate numbers. And the BJP is banking on the support of parties like BRS, Biju Janta Dal and YSR Congress Party to tide over this lack of numbers in the upper house of Parliament, sources said. 

These parties have also been facing flak from other opposition members over their tacit support to the saffron agenda over such contentious issues, with some even terming them as the B team of the BJP. 

It is understood that BJP is pushing through the UCC keeping the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in mind with Prime Minister Narendra Modi set to seek another term in office in 2024.  

All senior leaders in the saffron front have been working towards evolving a strategy that would enable the UCC to sail through the Parliament without much resistance, sources stated.

The BJP feels that the implementation of UCC along with the construction of Ram Janmbhoomi Temple in Ayodhya can be the two issues that could easily see it through to a magical tally of 300 plus in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

While the Ram Janmbhoomi Temple in Ayodhya is likely to be inaugurated in early 2024, the BJP is targeting the introduction and passing of UCC, the latest by the winter session of Parliament this year.

A combination of these two issues, which have been on the manifesto of the BJP for the past few decades, is expected to enable the saffron party to secure a third term for PM Modi. A successful implementation of these would also ensure the fulfilment of the main agendas of BJP’s ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.