Shiv Sena takes U-turn, says it won't support CAB
BJP's former ally seeks clarity before backing proposed law; Fadnavis says it's under pressure from Cong.
Mumbai: A day after voting in favour of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB) in Lok Sabha, the Shiv Sena made a U-turn on Tuesday as party chief and chief minister, Uddhav Thackeray, said that his party’s queries in the Lower House on the bill remained unanswered. “We won’t support the bill till we get clarity,” he said.
Mr Thackeray on Tuesday said that a detailed discussion and debate on the proposed legislation was necessary. “The Modi government needs to worry about the economy, job crisis and rising cost of living, especially the onions price rise, more than the implementation of the bill,” he said.
“We need to change this notion that one who supports the Bill and the BJP is a patriot and one who opposes it is anti-national,” he said, adding that the government should answer all the issues raised on the Bill.
The Lok Sabha passed the CAB, which seeks to provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees coming from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan after facing religious persecution there, a little past midnight on Monday. The Sena had voted in favour of the bill in the Lower House.
The Shiv Sena in Lok Sabha had demanded that people who get Indian citizenship under the proposed bill should not be granted voting rights for 25 years.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), meanwhile, claimed that the Sena changes its stance over the CAB due to pressure from Congress. Interest-ngly, Congress had expressed discontent over Sena’s decision to support the bill in the Lok Sabha.
The BJP questioned Sena’s change in stand alleging it was due to Congress’ pressure.
Former chief minister, Devendra Fadnavis, said, “Is Sena changing its sta-nce on NRC and CAB due to pressure from Con-gress? Sena should stick to its old stand and not change it to save the Maha Vikas Agadhi government,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Natio-nalist Congress Party (NCP) on Tuesday said the two (Sena and NCP) are different parties and it is not possible always for them to hold the same view on all issues.
NCP chief spokesperson Nawab Malik, however, said the parties comprising the alliance were still committed to ensuring that no injustice is meted to anyone on the grounds of religion, caste, language and region in Maharashtra.
“We are two different parties. We reached an agreement on certain issues when it comes to governance in the state,” Mr Malik said.