Bengal to implement UCC by following legal procedures, says Suvendu

Suvendu Adhikari said the Uniform Civil Code would be implemented in West Bengal by following due legal procedures similar to Gujarat and Assam. The report also says the government is likely to introduce the UCC Bill in the Assembly during the ongoing Budget session

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Friday said his government would implement the Uniform Civil Code in the state by following due legal procedures, similar to the process adopted by Gujarat and Assam.

Speaking on the sidelines of a government programme to celebrate the 189th birth anniversary of literary icon Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay at College Street in north Kolkata, Adhikari said the state would adhere to the prescribed process for implementing the UCC.

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“There is a procedure for UCC implementation, and we will adhere to that. This will be similar to Gujarat and Assam,” he said, referring to the two states that have initiated legislative and administrative steps towards adopting a Uniform Civil Code governing issues such as marriage, divorce and inheritance.

The BJP government in West Bengal is likely to introduce the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Bill in the Assembly on Monday during its ongoing Budget session, much ahead of the party-stated six-month deadline, a source in the Suvendu Adhikari-led cabinet said.

The matter was discussed and finalised in a Business Advisory Committee meeting held in the Assembly on Thursday evening, he added.

The development could mark one of the most consequential legal and social policy shifts in Bengal in recent times, with the BJP holding the UCC as representing both a major governance promise and a politically significant reform.

Ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections, the BJP had pledged in its manifesto that the UCC would be implemented within six months of coming to power in the state. The promise was prominently highlighted by Union Home Minister Amit Shah while unveiling the party’s election manifesto, or ‘Sankalp Patra’, in April.

“Several states, including Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Assam, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, have already implemented the UCC proposals. Bengal will now also implement it in line with other BJP-ruled states as we had promised ahead of the elections,” a minister in the Adhikari cabinet said.

During the programme, Adhikari paid floral tributes to Chattopadhyay, the composer of the national song ‘Vande Mataram’.

The chief minister announced that the state government would build a national-level ‘Vande Mataram’ museum as part of the celebrations marking 150 years of the song.