Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said a “secular civil code” is the need of the hour for the country, as he described the existing set of laws as “communal civil code” and termed them discriminatory. In his Independence Day address from the ramparts of the Red Fort, Modi said, “A large section of the country believes, which is true also, that the civil code is actually in a way is a communal civil code. It discriminates (among people).”

He said laws which divide the country on communal lines and become a reason for inequality have no place in a modern society. “I would say, it is the need of the hour that India has a secular civil code. We have lived 75 years with a communal civil code. Now, we have to move towards a secular civil code. Only then would religion-based discrimination end,” he said.