No need to fear CAA, NPR: Thackeray after PM meet
No one needs to fear about the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Population Register (NPR) is not going to throw anyone out of the country, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said on Friday, after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Shiv Sena chief said an atmosphere is being created in the country that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) is “dangerous" for Muslims.
Talking to reporters after his meeting with Modi that lasted nearly an hour, Thackeray said he had a discussion on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the National Population Register (NPR) and the NRC.
"I have made my stand clear on all these issues. No one has to fear about CAA. I had said CAA is not a legislation to throw anyone out of the country," the Shiv Sena chief told reporters.
His son Aaditya Thackeray, also a minister in his cabinet, accompanied him during the meeting.
This was Uddhav
Thackeray's first visit to the national capital after taking over as the chief minister of Maharashtra.
He later met Congress President Sonia Gandhi and veteran BJP leader L K Advani.
Thackeray's Shiv Sena was earlier a part of the Bjp-led NDA, but formed the "Maha Vikas Aghadi" government in Maharashtra with the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) after parting ways with the saffron party.
Thackeray also met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and held discussions on the current political situation and CAA-NPR-NRC.
Thackeray met Gandhi at her 10, Janpath residence and the meeting lasted around half-an-hour. This is the first meeting of Thackeray with Gandhi after the formation of the coalition government in Maharashtra.
Sources said the leaders are learnt to have discussed the functioning of the 'MahaAgadi' government of Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP.
Thackeray's stand on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Population Register (NPR) has become a bone of contention among the allies in
Maharashtra, as the Congress and the NCP are opposed to the measures.
AICC general secretary incharge of Maharashtra Mallikarjun Kharge and Shiv Sena leaders Aaditya Thackeray and Sanjay Raut were also present during the meeting.
The meeting came soon after Thackeray asserted that one does not have to fear the CAA and no one will thrown out of the country due to NPR, soon after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Congress and the NCP, along with some other opposition parties, have been critical of the CAA-NPR-NRC, and the matter has created discord among the Maharashtra alliance partners.
Thackeray said the Centre has already made its stand clear in Parliament that NRC will not be implemented across the country.
Sources said the leaders discussed the functioning of the state government.
“Talking about NPR and Census...the census happens every 10 years and it is important that it takes place. I have assured all the citizens of my state that no one's right will be taken away," Thackeray said, adding "it's not so".