Uddhav turns PM’s ‘sounding board’
No one should be afraid of CAA, NPR will be conducted in State; will be halted if there are ominous overtones
Notwithstanding ideological differences with his MVA partners, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday asserted that he would not allow the tinkering of citizens' rights.
At a press conference held after meeting PM Modi, he assured the state's people that he would act swiftly if he finds anything ominous in the NPR.
The central government has assured him that there will no nationwide exercise to make people prove their citizenship through NRC (National Register of Citizens); so, there is no need to be concerned about the Citizenship Amendment Act. PM Modi also clarified that the NRC was limited to Assam only.Uddhav said he had already clarified his stand in the Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna that the Citizenship Amendment Act will be implemented in Maharashtra as the avowed aim is not to oust people but to give citizenship to those who have fled persecution in the neighbouring countries.
He said some political leaders were instigating people against the amended citizenship law; however, he thinks there is no reason for people to be worried and these leaders should understand that the CAA is not aimed at snatching anybody's rights.
"Under NPR also, no one is going to throw anyone out. It is a Census that happens every 10 years. But once the exercise starts, if there are dangerous overtones to it, then he would stop the NPR exercise instantly.
The citizenship exercise has been a prickly issue between the Shiv Sena and its partners in Maharashtra -- the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party -- which are both vehemently opposed to the NRC and the CAA.
Uddhav wriggled out when he was told that it were the Congress, a partner in his government, which was backing the protests against CAA in Delhi. He said he is not based in Delhi and cannot ascertain what is happening; he also asserted that he does not watch TV all the time, when told that the Congress support to the protests is all over TV channels."Who said differences," he shot back, when asked about the varying opinions in his Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition on the issue, including his unilateral decision on CAA implementation and allowing NPR.
"We are moving ahead on the basis of the agreed CMP (common minimum programme)," he asserted.This was his second meeting with PM Modi after becoming the CM, though their first in a formal setting. Both the PM's office and Uddhav Thackeray tweeted photographs.
Uddhav also told Modi that no company is coming forward in 10 districts of the state for the PM's crop insurance scheme.
The Congress leaders had voiced apprehensions about Thackeray choosing to first meet Modi instead of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who helped him form the government after his party broke away from the BJP.
Sena sources said Thackeray would meet Sonia Gandhi as well as BJP patriarch Lal Krishna Advani and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.