On Saturday, Mamata Banerjee attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party in a caustic manner on the issue of Uniform Civil Code (UCC), and fuelled the political tussle in the poll-bound West Bengal. Her comments were shortly following the reiteration of the BJP promise of implementing the UCC in the state by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi who said that it would aid in ending what he described as the politics of appeasement.
In a speech at an election rally in Jhargram, Banerjee claimed that her party, the Trinamool Congress, would repeal the UCC in case the BJP loses its majority. She charged the ruling party at the Centre of polarising voters by manipulating the issue and eroding the diverse social divide in India. They appear at elections, but dry up later, she said, and the BJP had done nothing to improve development when it was supposedly denying the state central funds.
The TMC chief even alleged that the BJP was trying to meddle in her electoral prospects by submitting fake affidavits to oppose her nomination of the Bhabanipur constituency in Kolkata. Addressing a different rally in West Midnapore, she claimed that such kind of tactics were to undermine the position of her party before the important polls.
In the meantime, the BJP has used the UCC as a central election campaign issue in its manifesto, claiming that civil equality and governance requires a common base of civil law. As the two parties continue to trade their rhetoric, the matter has become a key point of contention in the current election race, paving the way to a bitter political battle in the state.