LUCKNOW: Currently in news for reports of his growing proximity with the
BJP, Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia (PSP-L) chief
Shivpal Yadav
on Thursday said it is the right time to implement the Uniform Civil Code and added that BR
Ambedkar had backed the idea in the Constituent Assembly.
BJP has been strongly advocating implementation of UCC in India and its government in
Uttarakhand
has set up a committee to draw a detailed plan for its introduction in the hill state. Shivpal’s statement is being seen as a first major indication from his end of siding with the BJP in the future.
Addressing an event on Ambedkar’s birth anniversary at PLP-L headquarters in Lucknow, he said ‘the right time to implement UCC has come’. “The time has come when a uniform civil code should be drafted to encompass the sentiments of every section of the society and implemented,” he said, adding “Babasaheb had strongly advocated the idea of introducing UCC in the Constituent Assembly and made an election issue by Lohia in 1967,” he said.
“UCC will give impetus to equality and misconceptions about it will be addressed and done away with. PSP-L wants a common civil code which is drafted with the consent of all sections of the society and people of all faiths are adequately accommodated in it,” he said.
Shivpal also released the third edition of the book titled ‘Ambedkar, Lohia va samajawaad’’ authored by PSP-L chief spokesperson Deepak Misra.
Unhappy with nephew and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, Shivpal, who retained his Jaswantnagar assembly seat in 2022 polls as SP candidate, has been unhappy over the manner in which he has been ‘overlooked’ in SP. He is said to have been in touch with BJP brass and there are speculations he may join the saffron party soon. Shivpal, though, has kept everyone guessing by keeping his cards close to his chest about the next political move.