Owaisi alleged the UCC was designed to target Muslims rather than ensure equality.
He challenged BJP allies within the NDA to demonstrate an independent political voice.
Shah said 21 BJP-NDA states would implement the UCC before 2029.
AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday accused the BJP of using the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) to "target Muslims", a day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah said BJP-led NDA governments in 21 states would implement it before 2029.
Sharing Outlook India's post on X, Owaisi questioned whether the BJP’s alliance partners had an independent political voice and challenged them to prove that they were not merely “choti BJP”.
The Hyderabad MP claimed that the Law Commission appointed by the NDA government had concluded that a UCC was “neither necessary nor desirable” for India.
"It’s for the BJP’s allies to show that they have an independent political voice and aren’t just “choti BJP”. The BJP itself had appointed a Law Commission that said that a UCC is neither necessary nor desirable. The soul of this country is its pluralism. A UCC will mean the imposition of Hindu law on non-Hindus," he said.
"It’s ironic that the BJP wants a UCC while its own states pass laws like the Disturbed Areas Act, which prohibit the sale of property between Muslims and Hindus. The so-called 'love jihad' laws have been applied exclusively against Christians and Muslims. A UCC isn’t about equality; it’s about targeting Muslims," he added.
Owaisi Challenges BJP Over Goa
Speaking to news agency ANI, Owaisi challenged Shah, the BJP and the RSS to introduce in Goa the same UCC model adopted in Uttarakhand and proposed in Gujarat and Assam.
“Go ahead and implement it in Goa,” he said, questioning whether the ruling party would apply an identical framework in the coastal state.
Owaisi referred to provisions under Goa’s existing civil code that allow a second marriage in certain circumstances and provide separate arrangements for Catholic marriages and divorce proceedings.
He argued that such provisions raised doubts about the BJP’s stated objective of establishing uniform personal laws across religious communities.
The AIMIM leader also accused the BJP of inconsistency, pointing to laws in some party-ruled states that he said restrict interactions between religious communities.
“It’s ironic that the BJP wants a UCC while its own states pass laws like the Disturbed Areas Act, which prohibit the sale of property between Muslims and Hindus,” Owaisi said.
Shah Sets 2029 Target For UCC Implementation
Addressing an event in Mumbai on Sunday, Shah said the UCC would be introduced across all 21 states governed by the BJP-led NDA before 2029.
“We have introduced the Uniform Civil Code in several states, and I am confident that in the 21 BJP-NDA-ruled states, we will introduce the UCC before 2029,” Shah said.
The UCC seeks to create a common legal framework governing personal matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance and adoption, regardless of religion.
Owaisi Draws Parallel With NRC
Owaisi compared the latest UCC push to the controversy surrounding the National Register of Citizens and the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act and NRC in 2019.
He alleged that Shah’s “misplaced arrogance” and repeated references to “chronology” had contributed to those demonstrations. Owaisi recalled that Prime Minister Narendra Modi later said there were no plans to implement a nationwide NRC.
He further claimed that a similar situation was emerging around the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, which he alleged had disproportionately affected minorities, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and migrant communities.
Warning about the consequences of a nationwide citizenship exercise, Owaisi said an NRC would be “100 times worse” and pointed to Assam’s experience.
“The National Register of Citizens will force everyone to stand in line and prove their citizenship. In a country where 80 crore people depend on ration for food, you want them to find documents and prove their citizenship?” he said.
