SHILLONG: In a significant move, Meghalaya CM and ruling National People’s Party (NPP) president Conrad Sangma has opposed the uniform civil code ahead of the election in the state. This marks a departure from the stance of the ruling BJP, which is NPP’s partner in the ruling alliance in the state.
“As a political party, we are very clear that UCC is something that cannot be accepted by the NPP. It will have a negative impact on the culture and the way of life of the tribal people in the region, especially in a matrilineal society like that of Meghalaya,” Sangma said on Saturday.
He, however, added, “There may be certain areas where the Centre wants certain things to be done, it may have certain concerns that we are well not aware of. But anything that it does should not affect the culture and the way of life of the people of Meghalaya.”
He went on to add that the UCC Bill is a private member’s bill and not a government bill.
Hence, there was no specific information that this bill was brought in. Expressing serious apprehensions about the UCC Bill, he said it will “very extremely” and negatively impact the culture and the way of life of the tribes of the entire northeast, and not just Meghalaya He said, “UCC will spell out how property is to be transferred to children.
So if the UCC says that it has to go to the eldest son like it is done in other parts of the country, it won’t augur well for the culture of our state where the property is passed on to the youngest daughter in many tribes.” “Hence, such conditions need to be discussed in detail. We don’t know what kind of bill will ultimately come out. So we cannot say anything right now without seeing the actual bill.” “But the whole concept of UCC is something, if it goes into toto and it is going to be uniform, means it is going to be a strict uniform where they will change the cultural practices of the state of Meghalaya. That’s something we, as a state, as a party, cannot accept,” he asserted.
Start a Conversation
Post comment