Teachings of Vivekanand make out a case for Uniform Civil Code: ASG

ASG Jain was speaking at an event organised to mark the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekanand

The teachings of Swami Vivekanand make out a strong case for Uniform Civil Code (UCC) which is recommended in Article 44 of the Constitution of India, Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain said on Wednesday.

ASG Jain, who was speaking at an event organised to mark the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekanand, emphasised that "character building" which is one of the Indian philosopher's teachings was based on an all-inclusive and uniform value system, and questioned if any commitment towards the nation and the Constitution could be inculcated in the young generation without commonality of values.

The senior advocate was speaking on the theme "Teaching of Swami Vivekanand and Indian Constitution" at the event by Delhi high court unit of Adhivakta Parishad.

The senior lawyer said the Part IV of the Constitution, which lists "our goals" in the form of directive principles, cannot be achieved without "character building".

"Can we inculcate any commitment in GenZ -- the current generation as we call them -- towards our nation in general or our Constitution in particular unless our character building process is based on all-inclusive uniform value system with commonality of good values derived from all faiths and religions?

"How do we bring that uniform value system, with conflicting civil codes coming from different legal charters based on religions in day-to-day matters? It is in this context that the teachings of Vivekanand make out a strong case for UCC recommended in Article 44 and emphasised by the Supreme Code in various judgements," the senior advocate said.

ASG Jain stated that the Constitution itself is a by-product of "awakening" one of Vivekanand's teachings which provided for equality before law, shunned discrimination on the ground of religion, race, caste or gender, and protected right to life and liberty.

Our Parliament and the Supreme Court have ensured that this part of "rising and awakening", reflected in basic structure of the Constitution, remains intact, he said.