New Delhi: Union Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Sunday said tribals of the northeast and other areas of the country will be kept out of the ambit of the proposed Uniform Civil Code so that they can live their lives “freely” as per their systems.
Speaking at an event organised by RSS-affiliate Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram here, he clarified the Union government’s stand on the issue, saying that “some people create a bizarre atmosphere on social media these days and build a narrative” against the Centre. Rijiju, however, did not mention anybody’s name.
“Being a Union minister, I want to share the stand of our government. Our government and party (BJP) think about (bringing) a Uniform Civil Code in the country as per the Constitution. When criminal law is equal for all, why should the civil law also not be (equal for everyone),” the minister said.
He said some states have already initiated work in this connection.
“But we have clearly said that tribals will be exempted from this. Let advisais be given freedom to live in their own way. This (UCC) will not be implemented in Schedule 6, Schedule 5, the northeast and other tribal areas in the country,” the minister added. The issue of UCC is currently being examined by the Law Commission.
Uttarakhand has so far implemented UCC in the state.
Speaking at the inauguration of a Tribal Research and Training Centre at Bhagwan Birsa Munda Bhavan, Rijiju launched a veiled attack at the Congres, saying there was a time when there was “no big institution or place for advisais in Delhi”. Representation of elected MPs from tribal communities in the council of ministers at the Centre was also inadequate then, he said.
“Arvind Netam, a very senior leader from undivided Madhya Pradesh, was a minister of state then. When I met him and asked how many more leaders from scheduled tribes are senior ministers or state ministers in the
Union government, he said just one or two,” Rijiju told the gathering.
“He told me that he won parliamentary elections several times but he was given the status of a minister of state only. He was expressing his agony,” he added.
Rijiju hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the work done under his leadership for the welfare and uplift of tribals in the country.
“What the Narendra Modi government has done for the uplift of tribals in this country nobody had ever even thought about it before,” he said.
Rijiju said there are three Cabinet ministers, including him, and four ministers of state from the tribal community in the Modi government today.