In secular nation, should there be common law for every religion or not: HM

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday accused the Congress of appeasement politics, saying the party has not been able to bring a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and asked the party to spell out if there should there be a common law for every religion in a secular nation.

Concluding the discussion in the Rajya Sabha on the 75 years of adoption of the Constitution, Amit Shah also lashed out at Congress over its allegations concerning Electronic Voting Machines (EVM), saying some of those who made complaints about outcome in Maharashtra celebrated it in Jharkhand, where JMM-led INDIA bloc won the assembly elections.

He asked why UCC has not been implemented yet.

"Why hasn't UCC come yet? It didn't come because after the Constituent Assembly was concluded and elections were over, the country's first PM Nehruji introduced Muslim Personal Law, not UCC. I want to ask the Congress party in this House that in a secular nation, should there be a common law for every religion or not? Why do they support the Muslim Personal Law? There can be no bigger political manoeuvre than this... They started appeasement right there by introducing the Muslim Personal Law...You cannot bring the UCC because you cannot rise above the politics of appeasement. In Uttarakhand, our (BJP) government has implemented the Uniform Civil Code in the state," he said.

Shah lashed out at Congress over some of the constitutional amendments made during the party rule in the past.

"The 39th Amendment in the Constitution crossed all the limits. On August 10, 1975, was a black day. Indira Gandhi's elections were declared null and void by the Allahabad High Court. After they lose, they roam around with EVMs. They say the EVMs defeated them...When they lose they blame the EVMs. Two assembly election results came out on the same day. Maharashtra ne opposition ka soopda saaf kar diya (bowled them out)...for disrespecting the mandate. So the EVMs are faulty in Maharashtra, but when they won in Jharkhand, they wore new clothes and rushed to take the oath. People are watching, you must be ashamed. How is it possible that EVM is working fine at one place and not at the other?" he asked.

The Union Home Minister said the Election Commission of India (ECI) had asked people to check if it was possible to hack the EVMs, but nobody turned up.

"The EC kept the EVM from 10 am to 5 pm for three days open for anyone to prove if it could be hacked. No one came. The Supreme Court rejected the petitions on EVMs 24 times," he said.

Amit Shah said that Indira Gandhi's election was declared null and void by the Allahabad High Court and slammed some constitutional amendments done by her government.

"So she prohibited the judicial inquiry of a prime minister through amendment... I want to ask my Communist brothers to introspect on whom are they sitting," Shah said.

"The 42nd Amendment of the Constitution was made when Indira Gandhi was the PM... The tenure of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha was increased to 6 years. They did it because they would have lost if the elections had taken place at the right time... The members of Congress started remaining absent as they could not oppose. An amendment was made that the quorum was not required in both the Houses. The period of the President's rule was increased by 6 months," Shah added.

The debate on 75 years of the Constitution started in Rajya Sabha on Monday and lasted two days. Lok Sabha held the debate last week.