India should have a common civil code:Rajnath

Patna, Apr 15 (UNI) BJP national president Rajnath Singh today advocated for a common civil code in the country and demanded Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should constitute a committee for evolving consensus on the issue at a national level.

Before taking up the next leg of his Bharat Suraksha Yatra, Mr Singh, flanked by the state deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, party state president Radha Mohan Singh and several prominent BJP leaders, talking to newspersons said ''Even after provisions for common civil code in the Indian constitution, strong observations of Supreme Court and opinion of President A P J Abdul Kalam over the matter, the country is still to have a common civil code.'' He advocated for initiating a national level debate on the matter in Parliament and asked Dr Singh to constitute a committee to build a consensus on the key issue.

Referring to the provisions in the Indian constitution, he said its clause clearly speaks for a common civil code applicable to all sections and class. Justifying his demands for the common civil code, Mr Singh cited observation of the then Chief Justice of Supreme Court V N Khare, who had stated that the common civil code would help the cause of national integration.

Mr Singh also quoted the opinion of President APJ Abdul Kalam who said a country like India with one million population should have a common civil code.

He said formulation of common civil code was the responsibility of Parliament which seems to have been ''downsized by a religion''.

Later responding to a query, he, however, hastily tried to tone down his statement issued during the press conference regarding Parliament's stature.

Mr Singh cited the example of Goa, which had common civil code for all sections, and added that it functioned smoothly and no complaint was ever received from any sections of the society.

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