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Bihar | The tone is civil, the disquiet is uniform

The UCC faces a genuine tumbling block in Bihar, as BJP seeks not to upset partners JD(U) and LJP. Muslim alienation could upset electoral equilibrium

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DIFFERING VOICES: Bihar CM Samrat Choudhary and, from top left, Nitish Kumar, Chirag Paswan, Prashant Kishore and Tejashwi Yadav (Photo: Ranjan Rahi)

Five days and over a thousand miles separate two sentences that frame the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) question in Bihar. On September 13, in faraway Mumbai, Union home minister Amit Shah said that, by 2029, the UCC’s footprint would cover all 21 states ruled by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). However, its relatively unproblematic rollout—one state done, three in the process—may not be a clear portent for states like Bihar. On September 18, chief minister Samrat Choudhary gestured at the complication. Upon questioning, he did not contradict Shah, but said, “We will talk to everyone, and then make a decision.”

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