Shah slams Cong in Constitution debate

Asserting that India's democracy is deep-rooted, Union home minister Amit Shah said on Tuesday that the people of the country through the Constitution have given an appropriate response to those who used to say that India will not become powerful economically.

- Agencies

Concluding the discussion in the Rajya Sabha on the 75 years of adoption of the Constitution, Shah recalled the efforts of Sardar Patel for the unification of the country.

"The debates that happened in both Houses of the Parliament will be useful for the youth of the country... It will also help the people of the country to understand which party has honoured the Constitution and which has not... When we look back on 75 years of Constitution, I want to thank Sardar Patel as due to his tireless efforts we are standing tall and in the world as one nation," said.

"In the last 75 years, there have been many nations that became independent and had new beginnings but democracy did not succeed there. But our democracy is deep-rooted. We made numerous changes accepted. After that, BJP governments will bring a common civil code in all states," he said.

"That it couldn't be brought till now is due to the Congress's appeasement politics." UCC refers to a common set of laws that will subsume customary laws across faiths and govern issues such as marriage, divorce, inheritance and maintenance. Part of the troika of core ideological goals of the BJP, UCC was among the party's poll promises in the 2022 assembly elections.

Last February, Uttarakhand passed a UCC law that provided for equal rights to women in marriage, divorce, alimony and inheritance of property, proscribed certain kinds of relationships, banned polygamy, made registration of marriages mandatory, and mandatory registration or self-declaration for live-in relationships. The law has not yet been implemented.