CAA now in CM Uddhav Thackeray's court

CAA now in CM Uddhav Thackeray's court

It will be Thackeray’s decision whether MVA should move a resolution against implementing the Act on the lines of Kerala and Punjab or not

Sanjay JogUpdated: Monday, January 20, 2020, 07:13 AM IST
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Sanjay Raut/ Uddhav Thackeray | File pic

Pressure is mounting on Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray from the Maha Vikas Aghadi partners and citizen organisations to take a final decision to move a resolution in the state legislature against the implementation of Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in Maharashtra on the lines of Kerala and Punjab.

Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress are on the same page as they are strongly opposed to implementing CAA in the state. The ball is now in Thackeray’s court.

If Thackeray, on consulting NCP and Congress leaders, gives his consent, the government may move a resolution in the legislature in the ensuing budget session beginning on February 24.

CAA grants citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.

Thackeray-led Shiv Sena had voted in favour of Citizenship Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha and walked out of the Rajya Sabha. However, Congress and NCP strongly opposed its passage in the parliament. The architect of Maha Vikas Aghadi and NCP chief Sharad Pawar had suggested that Maharashtra should refuse implementation of CAA as he feared that it will hurt the religious and social harmony.

Thackeray’s close associate and party MP Sanjay Raut has categorically said that CAA will not be implemented in the state. He further added that people in Maharashtra need not be scared of the CAA, National Population Register (NPR) and National Register of Citizens (NRC), as the government was with them. Patriotism, he said, has no religion and should not be labelled on the basis of it.

Congress ministers Balasaheb Thorat and Nitin Raut had said that the new law would not be implemented in the state. Housing Minister and NCP leader Jitendra Awhad, on Saturday, promised the protesters that Maharashtra would not implement CAA, NPR and NRC. He noted that along with Muslims, the poor, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and nomadic tribes would suffer the most if CAA and NPR were implemented.

Maharashtra Congress Committee spokesman Raju Waghmare, on Sunday, reminded that the state party chief Balasaheb Thorat has shared his stand on the CAA. "Even Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has said that they are against CAA. As far as the resolution against CAA is concerned, our senior leaders of MVA will sit together and decide," he said.

Meanwhile, VBA has called for a Maharashtra bandh on January 24 to protest against the CAA, NRC and "wrong" economic policies of the Centre.

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