Criticising its former ally Bharatiya Janata Party, Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray has said that the new citizenship law is an “insult” to V D Savarkar who sought to bring land from the Sindhu river to Kanyakumari under “one country”. Thackeray is leading three party alliance government in the state with his Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress.
Addressing a press conference on the eve of the winter session of the state legislature in Nagpur, Thackeray said that issues like citizenship amendment act were being raised to “divert attention” of the people from real issues like “lack of security to women, unemployment and a farm crisis”.
He said the CAA is against the principles of Savarkar-a proponent of Hindu rashtravad (nationalism) who is revered by the Sangh Parivar.
“Savarkar had demanded bringing land from the Sindhu river to Kanyakumari under one country. Instead of doing that, the BJP-led Central government is simply accepting persecuted minorities into India by defying Savarkar, which is an insult to him,” said Thackeray .
“Is the CAA based on ideology? What about violence which erupted over it? The CAA is against the views of Savarkar. .Instead of trying to corner the Sena why the BJP is not aggressive on Savarkar like it is on the citizenship law?” he asked.
The CM said the Sena’s stand on Savarkar remains unchanged.
A day earlier the Sena had reacted strongly to Rahul Gandhi’s barb against Savarkar.
When asked about implementation of the CAA in Maharashtra, Thackeray said that will be dependent upon the ruling of the supreme court.
“We are checking legality of the new law. Some people have challenged the CAA in the Supreme Court. We are waiting to find out whether the new act fits the framework of Constitution or not,” he said.
“Our queries on the new law still remain unanswered. We will decide (whether to implement the CAA or not) on the decision of the court,” Thackeray added.
