Mumbai:
Barely just days into sharing power with the Congress in Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena appears to have gone back to its old ways. Much to the dislike of its new found Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) ally the Congress, the Sena broke ranks with it and supported its former ally the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the passage of the controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) in the Lok Sabha in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. However, by late evening buckling under pressure of its MVA ally it retraced its steps hinting that it might not support the bill in Rajya Sabha until it got clarity on questions it asked in Lok Sabha.
Matters were made worse for the Congress as its former president, Rahul Gandhi angrily reacted to Sena’s stand. Reacting to the development, he angrily quipped “anyone who supports CAB is attacking and attempting to destroy the foundation of our nation”. Meanwhile, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in a bid to defend its new found ally the Sena backing CAB in RS, remarked “same view not always possible.”
The CAB has become one issue that has not only caused divisions within the MVA, but also amongst the BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) allies like the Janata Dal (United). The Sena openly supported the BJP on the CAB issue, while, the BJP ally JD-U in Bihar is a divided house over the issue.
The Sena’s stance made the situation awkward for the Maharashtra Congress leader’s as it’s state Congress president Balasaheb Thorat, Rajya Sabha MP Hussain Dalwai and former MLC Charansingh Sapra had to put up a brave face. Dalwai however, voiced the Congress displeasure over the Sena voting in favor of the CAB when it had earlier stated that it would not vote in the first place.
Both Thorat and Sapra tried to point out that the Sena even when it was sharing power with the BJP. They argued that the Sena had voiced its criticism of BJP governments decisions like Demonetization, Bullet Train and others. These arguments in defense of Sena were in sharp contrast to Rahul Gandhi terming the CAB as an attack on the Indian constitution. While, Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra termed the passage of the bill as India’s tryst with bigotry.
Seeking to defend Sena’s support to the CAB in the Lok Sabha, Sena president and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray remarked that the queries in Lok Sabha on CAB went unanswered. In his clarification Uddhav Thackeray remarked “we need to change notion that one who backs CAB and BJP is patriot. It is an illusion that only BJP cares for country. Shiv Sena will not support the bill in the Rajya Sabha till we get clarity on questions we had asked”.
Shiv Sena has just 3 MP’s in Rajya Sabha – Sanjay Raut, Anil Desai and Rajkumar Dhoot. The BJP has the support of 116 MP’s and needs the support of 7 more MP’s to reach the half way mark of 123 to ensure the CAB is passed in the upper house.
Former Shiv Sena Union Minister Arvind Sawant too toed Thackerays line. When asked for his reaction on whether Sena would support the bill in Rajya Sabha he remarked “alag alag bhumika hoti kya humari? Rashtra ki hith ki bhumika lekar Shiv Sena khadi rehti hain, yeh kisi ki monopoly nahi hai. (has the Sena stand varied? Shiv Sena always stood for national interest. This is not somebodys monopoly.” It may be recalled that Sawant’s Lok Sabha party colleague Vinayak Raut had moved two amendments to the bill which he did not later press for adoption.
On the other hand the Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar led JD-U support to the CAB has caused divisions within the party. Senior party leader Pavan Verma remarked “I urge Nitish Kumar to reconsider support to the CAB in the Rajya Sabha. The Bill is unconstitutional, discriminatory, and against the unity and harmony of the country, apart from being against the secular principles of the JDU.”
Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has sharply reacted to the statement by United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) threatening sanctions against Union Home Minister Amit Shah if the CAB was passed in the Rajya Sabha. In a statement issued here the MEA said “the statement made by the USCIRF on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is neither accurate nor warranted. The Bill provides expedited consideration for Indian citizenship to persecuted religious minorities already in India from certain contiguous countries”
Meanwhile, the government informed the Lok Sabha that 181 declared foreigners and 44 convicted foreigners have completed more than 3 years in detention in Assam. A total of 289 declared foreigners have been detained in the year 2019. In all 1,14,225 persons were declared Indian Citizens by the Foreigners Tribunals (FTs) in Assam as of October 2019. While 1,29,009 were declared foreigners, 4,68,905 matters were referred to Foreigners Tribunals in Assam.
