The Kerala Legislative Assembly on Tuesday unanimously passed a resolution demanding the Centre to withdraw its arbitrary and hasty move to impose a uniform civil code (UCC) that renders secular character of the Constitution void.

“The Kerala Assembly is registering its deep concern and anxiety about the Central government’s move to impose Uniform Civil Code. It is the sense of this House that this arbitrary and hasty move would annihilate the secular nature of the Constitution,” the resolution moved by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan read.

The Kerala Assembly is the first state legislature in the country to pass a resolution against UCC.

The resolution stated that the concern of the people over UCC is shared by the Kerala Legislative Assembly. It noted that a single civil code is a divisive move that threatens the unity of the people and is detrimental to the nation’s cohesion.

“This House is of the view that the unilateral and hasty Central move is voiding the secular character of the Constitution. The Constitution refers to general civil law only in its directive principles. It is noteworthy that this was limited to directive principles. Directive principles are not mandatory in nature. Courts can order enforcement of fundamental rights. However, the directive principles of Article 44 of the Constitution cannot be mandated to be enforced even by the courts. It should be understood how much the architects of the constitution thought and why they did it,” says the resolution.

The Assembly unanimously demanded that the Central Government should refrain from taking any steps on issues affecting the entire populace of the country.

A rare political unanimity was seen in the Assembly on Tuesday as the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the opposition Congress-led UDF came together to oppose the UCC .Such a unanimity was seen in the Assembly in 2019 when the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) and UDF closed ranks to oppose the Centre’s Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) legislation. In December 2019, the Kerala Assembly unanimously passed a resolution against the Citizenship Amendment Act.

Moving the resolution, Chief Minister Vijayan said the BJP sought to create a Hindu nationalist state. The criminalisation of triple talaq, stripping Kashmir of its special status, violence against minorities, Dalits and tribes, and bulldozing the CAA through the Parliament without discussion were precursors to the Sangh Parivar agenda.

Responding to the passing of the resolution, BJP State president K Surendran said the ruling LDF and Opposition UDF misused the Assembly to create religious polarisation to reap political dividends by “appeasing a particular section of the society”. The BJPhas no members in the Kerala Assembly.