KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has said his government will implement a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the state within six months, and follow it with laws against religious conversion and what he called "love jihad" and "land jihad".
"After Uttarakhand and Gujarat, UCC will be implemented in West Bengal as well. I am giving you my word, give me six months," Adhikari said, according to Organiser. He spoke on Sunday, October 4, at an event in Kolkata marking the birth centenary of former Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) president Ashok Singhal, ThePrint reported.
"This government will not allow any anti-national activity here," he said.
What a UCC would cover
A Uniform Civil Code replaces the separate personal laws of religious communities with one set of civil laws. The draft Uniform Civil Code Bill, 2026 in West Bengal deals with marriage, divorce, intestate succession and testamentary succession across all communities, The Tribune reported in July. Its stated aim is to standardise civil laws on marriage, divorce, inheritance and adoption irrespective of religion, faith or community.
The review committee
The state cabinet decided on July 2 to set up a nine-member committee to examine the draft bill and recommend changes before it is introduced in the Assembly, The Tribune reported. A government notification cited the "wide ramifications and voluminous nature" of the proposed law.
The committee is chaired by retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai. Its members include former Meghalaya Governor Tathagata Roy, Resident Commissioner Dushyant Nariala, retired IAS officer Shatrughna Singh, Sanghamitra Ghosh, Principal Secretary of the Home and Hill Affairs Department, academic Ratna Bhattacharya, former Gour Banga University vice-chancellor Gopalchandra Misra, advocate Osman Gani Mallick and Nirmalya Bhattacharyya, a former executive director.
Justice Desai sat on the Supreme Court from September 2011 to October 2014 and has chaired the Delimitation Commission since March 2020. In 2018 she chaired the eight-member search committee for the Lokpal. She was appointed head of Uttarakhand's UCC committee in May 2022, according to Wikipedia.
At the time, Adhikari said: "There will be one nation and one law and not two laws," according to The Tribune.
Other states
Organiser described Uttarakhand and Gujarat as states that have already moved to implement a UCC, and reported that Gujarat's UCC Bill received the President's assent in October 2026. The VHP said West Bengal would be the third state to do so. The Tribune, reporting in July, counted West Bengal as the fourth state pursuing a UCC, after Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Assam.
Reactions
The VHP welcomed the announcement. "We appreciate the announcement of CM Shri Suvendu Adhikari to become the third state of the country, which will implement Uniform Civil Code after Uttarakhand and Gujarat," VHP national spokesperson Vinod Bansal said, according to ThePrint.
The VHP said the measures would ensure the safety and security of citizens and protect Indian culture and tradition, ThePrint reported. Bansal added: "By banning land jihad, the government could get back its hundreds of acres of government land that belongs to the private sector from the illegal occupancy of extremists."
The reports did not carry reactions from opposition parties, or say when bills on conversion or the other proposed laws would be drafted.
Background
Adhikari was sworn in as West Bengal's first BJP Chief Minister on May 9, 2026, after the party won that year's Assembly election, ending the Trinamool Congress's 15-year rule under Mamata Banerjee.
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