Mumbai: Shiv Sena, which is heading the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra, has accused the Centre of attempting an ‘’invisible partition’’ of Hindus and Muslims.
In a scathing attack in its mouthpiece Saamna’s editorial, Shiv Sena alleged it was ‘’vote bank politics’’ under the garb of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, which is not in the interest of the country.
“Is it acceptable?’’ Sena questioned in the editorial. The saffron party, which is BJP’s former ally, also questioned whether “selective acceptance” of Hindu illegal immigrants will act as a trigger for a religious war in the country.
Sena also questioned the timing of the bill and said there are several problems India faces at the moment and added that CAB would just turn out to be another controversial move.
“There is no dearth of problems in India now, but still we are inviting new ones such as CAB. It looks like the Centre has made an invisible partition of Hindus and Muslims over the bill,” Sena said.
“It is true that there is no other country for Hindus except Hindustan. But by accepting only Hindus among the illegal immigrants, will it be a trigger of a religious war in the country?” the Sena wondered.
Shiv Sena suggested Union Home Minister Amit Shah to revoke voting rights of new citizens for the next 25 years. At the same time, the Sena has appealed to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take a strong action against some neighbouring countries that torture Hindus like he had taken against Pakistan.
The Sena said illegal immigrants should be sent back to their countries of origin, a stated position of the BJP. “The exact number of such illegal immigrants should be known. If it is in lakhs, then where are they going to be settled in India?” the party asked.
Meanwhile, NCP chief spokesperson Nawab Malik called CAB "anti-Constitutional" and said that the BJP-led Union government is pushing it only for political benefits.
"We are going to oppose the CAB in the parliament. As the NRC was implemented haphazardly in Assam, the BJP has come up with CAB to offer citizenship to certain communities, except Muslims.
We are against it," Malik said. Malik alleged the CAB was aimed at regularising the 16 lakh Hindus who were omitted from NRC (in Assam).
The BJP had been campaigning in Assam that the problems of migrants there was mainly due to Muslims, but its claim fell flat with the NRC findings, Malik claimed. He said the BJP's plans to have the NRC exercise nationwide would be "a bigger blunder than demonetisation".
