A short clip from Times Now’s prime time show ‘Frankly Speaking’ featuring the channel’s editor-in-chief Navika Kumar and former law minister and MP Kapil Sibal discussing the controversial Uniform Civil Code is going viral on social media.
In the episode that aired on June 1, Navika asks Sibal what he thinks about the current controversy that is raging over the UUC, to which, Sibal rebuts back and says, “it is a thoughtless exercise.”
“I don’t know what the proposal is. Can you tell me? What do you mean by Uniform Civil Code? What is to be uniform? Are all customs uniform? As you know that under article 13 of the constitution custom is law. Will you remove the HUF? HUF only applies to Hindus. Under HUF, in fact, there's a distinction between self-acquired property and ancestral property. There are billions of people, Hindus in particular, who do business as HUF, who hold agricultural land as HUF....What would you do about Goa....What would you do about North East...we don't have a proposal! So what is this debate about?” asks Sibal.
"Navika is not the mouthpiece of the Prime Minister of India, so far I hope,” says Sibal
Sibal then asks Navika to tell one issue that the PM has raised in support of UCC. To this Navika replies, "Let's talk about gender parity."
"Great! I am all for it. But that is what this is all about? You are talking about gender parity, not the PM. Navika is not the mouthpiece of the Prime Minister of India, so far I hope.” quips Sibal.
"Certainly not," asserts Navika.
Sibal then says that the “Law Commission in 2020 said that UCC should never be pulled into practice.”
"Men change, ideologies change, positions change, politics changes," Sibal ends the answer.
Watch the video here:
As per news reports, the government could table a Bill on implementing a Uniform Civil Code in the monsoon session of Parliament, which is set to begin next month. Incidentally, the draft for the proposed Uniform Civil Code for Uttarakhand will give an insight into what lies ahead. The Bill, as per news reports, has provisions for the age of girls for marriage and conditions for live-in relationships, to name a few.
