India, Sept. 17 -- Union home minister Amit Shah's announcement last week that the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) will be implemented in all 21 states governed by the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) before 2029 was telling of how the party was pursuing one of its longest-standing ideological promises.

Instead of going through Parliament to enact a single national code, the Union government and states with BJP in governance were attempting to build a common civil-law framework one state at a time, beginning with Uttarakhand and now moving through Assam and Madhya Pradesh, with Gujarat preparing to follow.

The approach raises a fundamental constitutional question: if Article 44 speaks of securing a UCC "throughout the territory of In...