Coimbatore: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has challenged the Congress and other "pseudo secular parties" to an open debate on the issues of common civil code and population explosion.

Addressing a well-attended public meeting in Coimbatore as part of a "rath yatra" being undertaken by Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president C P Radhakrishnan, Modi said both the issues would decide the direction in which the nation is moving in the 21st century.

A committee of experts drawn from various spheres of life could be constituted for framing a common code, acceptable to all, taking the good from all religious and personal laws and rules. This could decide the future of the nation, he said.

BJP, for that matter even the erstwhile Jan Sangh, or its supporters, had never said a common civil code would mean laws of a particular religion would be imposed on another, he said, adding the debate could be held till the next Lok Sabha elections "so that people realised the facts" and decide the country's future.

Coming down heavily on Congress for its "double standards" on issues concerning the nation's economic or social development, Modi said the party, which preferred a court verdict on the Ram Janmabhoomi issue, remained silent on the suggestions made by the Supreme Court on civil code.

He alleged that Congress, which had thrown to the winds democracy during Emergency, was now "attempting to weaken the judicial system also".

The "vote bank politics" adopted by that party for the last 50 years had led to population explosion, by which the poorest of the poor were deprived of the benefit of developments, he charged.

PTI