Bhubaneswar, May 14 (PTI) Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday said there is a need for a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the country.

Sarma addressing an event here opposed reservation on the basis of religion.

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The BJP leader said all should be equal in the country. "If a Hindu is allowed to have one wife, why people of other religions can have more than one wife," Sarma said, adding that a Uniform Civil Code is needed in the country.

The UCC means having a common law for all citizens of the country that is not based on religion. Personal laws and laws related to inheritance, adoption and succession are likely to be covered by a common code.

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"Congress has been trying to give reservation to Muslims...," the Assam CM said accusing the Congress of promoting Sharia and religion-based reservations.

Lauding the Modi government for the abolition of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir, Sarma said the narratives have now changed. "Earlier people were agitating on the streets of Kashmir holding Pakistani flag. Now, things have changed, the people have been protesting against Islamabad and holding Indian tricolour," he said.

Sarma said, "The NDA under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi needs 400 plus seats to implement the UCC in the country and also to ensure PoK, which is a part of India, returns to India."

He claimed that Congress has diluted the Constitution and not BJP.

Sarma said, "Congress frequently speaks about secularism, but there was no mention of the word secularism in the original draft of the Constitution."

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)