A circular banning religious pictures in government offices was retracted a day after Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray slammed it and the party’s Ministers held a meeting with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
After the meeting, State Environment Minister Ramdas Kadam said, “The Chief Minister agreed to cancel the directive and initiate an inquiry.”
Mr. Thackeray on Sunday slammed the order issued to Zilla Parishads in the State through the Rural Development Ministry on January 4. He said, “Where was your transparency before you took this decision? Why were Sena Ministers not taken into confidence?” The Sena chief said he accepted secularism and it should be applied without discrimination. “If you have the courage implement the Uniform Civil Code.”
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Later in the evening, the government issued an order retracting the circular and served a show cause notice to the officer responsible. Education Minister Vinod Tawde said the said letter was neither an ordinance nor a circular, but was a letter issued from the Mantralaya. “However it needs to be investigated as to how the said letter was issued without taking permission from the senior officials.” He said Mr. Thackeray’s claims that it was a government decision was based on half information.
Meanwhile, a day after Mr. Thackeray’s announcement of snapping electoral ties with the BJP, Sena MP s did not attend a meeting called by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to discuss Maharashtra’s demands from the Union Budget.