Shah sets 2029 for Uniform Civil Code in all 21 NDA states

Amit Shah said on Sunday that every state government run by the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance will introduce a Uniform Civil Code before the 2029 Lok Sabha election. He was speaking in Mumbai with Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde beside him.

We have introduced the Uniform Civil Code in several states, Shah said. I am confident that in the 21 BJP-NDA ruled states, we will introduce the UCC before 2029. He placed the promise next to the 2019 ban on triple talaq, which he described as giving Muslim women equal rights.

The next general election is due in 2029. Shah's sentence turns a long party demand into a calendar. It also leaves the work with state assemblies, not a single central statute.

Where the code already exists

Uttarakhand passed its UCC bill in February 2024 and brought it into force in January 2025. It is the first state after Independence to run a common personal law of this kind. The code covers marriage, divorce, inheritance and live-in registration.

Gujarat passed a bill in March 2026. Assam passed one in May 2026. Madhya Pradesh has also passed a text. Those three are waiting for presidential assent and formal notification. Until those two steps are complete, the laws sit on paper.

Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan have drafting committees. West Bengal, which is not an NDA government, has also formed a committee, according to several Indian reports. That last fact matters. It shows the idea has moved beyond BJP-only legislatures, even if Kolkata's committee has not produced a bill.

Shah's count of 21 NDA-ruled states is the current map of the alliance. Those governments cover a large share of India's population. A code passed in each of them would still leave Congress-ruled and regional-party states on different personal law regimes. India would then have a patchwork, not a single national code.

What else Shah put on the record

The same briefing covered more than personal law. Shah said the government would deport illegal infiltrators, including Bangladeshis. Asked about a 1951 baseline for a National Register of Citizens in Manipur, he said the Centre was talking to allies and parties and would announce a decision later.

He claimed the criminal codes that replaced the old Indian Penal Code had lifted conviction rates by about 30 percent in a year in several states. He listed surgical strikes, air strikes and Operation Sindoor as the content of a zero-tolerance terrorism policy. He said more than 9,000 people had surrendered under peace agreements in the Northeast.

From 17 September the NDA will run a month-long Seva Sankalp Abhiyan to mark Narendra Modi's 25 years in top administrative office. Shah used the Mumbai event to open that campaign as well as to set the UCC deadline.

The political arithmetic

A Uniform Civil Code has sat in the BJP manifesto beside the Ram temple and the end of Article 370. The temple is open. Article 370 is gone. Personal law is the remaining item. Doing it state by state avoids an immediate fight in Parliament over a central bill. It also lets each government write its own exceptions for tribal areas, customary marriage and registration rules.

Opponents argue that a common code will overwrite Muslim personal law and other minority practices. Supporters say inheritance and divorce rules should not change with religion. Shah did not spend Sunday on that argument. He treated the 21-state target as an implementation task with a date.

The next test is presidential assent for Gujarat, Assam and Madhya Pradesh. After that comes notification, rules, and the first cases in family courts. If those three states go live, Shah's 2029 line becomes a measurable programme rather than a campaign sentence. If they stall, the deadline will still be quoted, and the map will still be incomplete.