Omar asks BJP to bring UCC to Parliament if it has numbers

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday trained his guns on the BJP’s Uniform Civil Code (UCC) strategy, saying the party’s own allies were not unanimous on the issue and that this could explain its decision to pursue the legislation through states.
Omar said the UCC could not be considered “universal” if it was implemented only in states governed by the BJP, arguing that an issue affecting the entire country should be decided by Parliament rather than individual state legislatures.
Slamming the BJP’s strategy, Omar said the party should bring the proposed legislation before Parliament if it had the numbers to secure its passage, instead of seeking to implement it selectively through BJP ruled states.
He accused the BJP of trying to push the UCC “through the backdoor”, asking the party to test its numbers in Parliament if it is confident of passing the legislation.
“Something that is of this nature should not be decided by individual states,” Omar said, maintaining that Parliament, which represents the country as a whole, was the appropriate forum to decide on a UCC.
The Chief Minister also pointed to differences within the BJP-led NDA over the legislation, saying reports that the JD(U) was opposed to its implementation in Bihar indicated that the ruling alliance itself did not have a consensus on the issue.
Omar told reporters in Srinagar that the whole country is not BJP- ruled. There are a number of states and UTs that the BJP does not govern.
“The way their own allies are not in favour of it, I don’t think they will be able to get it passed in Parliament. That is perhaps why they are taking this route,” he added.
The chief minister said the BJP had not brought some of the key legislations in the Parliament. “Until now, whatever legislation they spoke about — whether it was ‘One Nation, One Election’ or reservation — they did not bring those to Parliament. Now, for this one as well, they are talking about bringing it through the states,” he said.
On the de-escalation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) between India and China, Omar said it was a welcome step. “Anything that reduces tension on the Line of Control or the Line of Actual Control is a good step. Particularly for those people who live close to it, and we know how difficult it is for people living near the LoC or LAC. Similarly, we hope, over time, that along the Line of Control also, things will get better,” he said.
He, however, cautioned against reading too much into China’s praise for India’s foreign policy, saying New Delhi’s foreign policy was always independent and did not require validation from other countries.
“Our foreign policy is our own. Why do we look for other countries’ certificates? The danger with something like this is that tomorrow were China will say something against our foreign policy, then what will you do? Therefore, I think we should not give too much importance to what other countries say about our foreign policy, whether positive or negative, because we can’t cherry-pick.
Referring to the BRICS summit, Omar said the naming and condemnation of the Pahalgam terror attack by the grouping was itself a significant achievement for India, particularly in view of the presence of countries considered close to Pakistan.