Will Maharashtra join Punjab, Kerala and West Bengal in refusing to implement the amended Citizenship Act? Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is yet to clear his stand on the matter, even as two Congress ministers of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government made it clear on Friday that they are opposed to it.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has demanded the immediate implementation of the Act in the State.
Since the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was signed into an Act by the President on Friday night, Punjab, Kerala and West Bengal — all three have non-BJP governments — have already refused to implement it.
In Maharashtra, implementation of the Act may well be the biggest test of the MVA alliance. The Shiv Sena had supported the Bill in the Lok Sabha, a move that upset the Congress, but had boycotted the vote in Rajya Sabha.
On Friday, Congress minister Balasaheb Thorat said, “This Act is unconstitutional. We have opposed it. We will discuss with party leaders in Delhi about its implementation in Maharashtra and convey it to the Chief Minister.”
Congress minister Nitin Raut, too, made the party’s stand clear, saying, “We are opposed to the Act, we will not allow it to be implemented at all in Maharashtra. We believe Uddhav Thackeray will cooperate with us as the Sena had taken a clear stand in the Rajya Sabha.”
State BJP leader Ashish Shelar, meanwhile, wrote to the CM on Friday to implement the legislation immediately. He said, “Two Congress ministers have opposed the implementation of the Act, which has led to an atmosphere of ambiguity among citizens. We oppose the Congress’s stand and BJP insists on protecting the rights of displaced Christians, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Hindus in the State. I demand that you make your stand as a government clear on this.”
The pressure is mounting on the Sena to take a decision ahead of the winter session of the Assembly. State Home Minister and senior Sena leader Eknath Shinde said, “The Sena walked out in Rajya Sabha because there was no clarity on the Act yet. A decision will be taken by Uddhav Thackeray.”
In Rajya Sabha, Sena MP Sanjay Raut had demanded that those being granted citizenship through the Act should not get voting rights for 25 years and had sought to know the status of Tamils from Sri Lanka. When no answers were offered, Sena MPs had walked out.
