The Uniform Civil Code and the National Register of Citizens are back in the news cycle with the BJP promising the same in its manifesto for the Karnataka elections. 

While the party’s “praja pranalike”, or “people’s manifesto”, talked about a slew of welfare schemes, most newspapers ostensibly focussed on the controversial demands for UCC and NRC in their headlines, and detailed the rest of the manifesto in the reports.

Here’s what they said.

In its front-page report titled “BJP’s K’taka poll manifesto promises UCC, NRC; freebies for BPL families”, the Times of India described the manifesto as “a mix of welfare promises and wide-ranging changes”, with the UCC and NRC categorised under the latter. It quoted BJP national president JP Nadda saying that the NRC was meant to pace up “deportation of illegal immigrants”.

It also spotlighted the BJP’s promise to form a committee against religious fundamentalism, emphasising that the proposal has come "in the wake of criticism within the party that Hindu activists aren’t being 'protected'".

Among all the big poll promises of the BJP, the Hindu underlined the UCC in its headline on the front page. In the report titled “In Karnataka, BJP promises uniform civil code if elected”, the newspaper said the pointers in the party’s manifesto catered to its “core ideological base”. 

It featured the party’s push for welfare schemes in a more detailed article in its inside page.    

In Indian Express, a front page report titled “BJP promises Uniform Civil Code, NRC in its Karnataka manifesto” emphasised that this is the first time in Karnataka that the party has included UCC and NRC in its poll manifesto. 

In its inside page, the newspaper also carried an interview of Karnataka health minister Dr K Sudhakar, who also headed the party’s campaign manifesto, under the headline “NRC won’t be announced as soon as govt comes in … we’ll engage committee of experts”.  

On the third page of its Calcutta edition, the Telegraph reported on the BJP manifesto in a lead story, titled “BJP vows uniform civil code”. Notably, the front page of the paper had Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s remarks at a rally in Karnataka, targeting PM Narendra Modi and the BJP on alleged corruption.

The report on the BJP manifesto noted, “The party has also promised half a litre of Nandini milk every day to below-poverty-line (BPL) families, a pledge meant at least partly to refute the Opposition allegation that the BJP plans to hand over the state cooperative’s Nandini to Gujarat-based Amul. The Congress and the Janata Dal Secular have made this allegation an election issue, targeting the votes of the state’s thousands of dairy farmers who would be hit hard by any such handover.”

Meanwhile, the headline for Hindustan Times lead story on its front-page read: “Uniform code and NRC in BJP’s Karnataka promises”. It said that of all the promises by the party, the UCC and NRC garnered the most attention. 

It highlighted that the UCC has been the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s long-pending demand. However, it noted that it has been “a part of the BJP’s election manifesto for decades”. It quoted Nadda as saying that the constitution allows the government to “move in the direction of UCC”. 

The report also noted that the NRC conducted in Assam “has been mired in controversy”, and that the central government had earlier said that there was no discussion on a nationwide NRC.

Newslaundry was at the event in Bengaluru where the BJP announced its manifesto. Here’s what we found.