With the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill becoming a law, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has urged Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to take action against illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.
Reminding the Chief Minister that his party has fought a long battle against illegal settlers in the financial capital, the BJP leaders said the State government must take cognisance of illegal settlements in the city in areas such as Shivajinagar, Govandi, Chandivali, Mira Bhayandar, Navi Mumbai and Thane.
“I have reminded Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray that the BJP and the Sena have been fighting against the Bangladeshi ‘ ghushkhor ’ (infiltrators) for a long time. Now that action must be initiated against these infiltrators at the earliest,” said Kirit Somaiya, State BJP vice president.
‘Pressure from allies’
The BJP has maintained that the Sena may not ultimately implement the Act in the State following pressure from its allies: the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party. “Our government will not implement Citizenship (Amendment) Act in Maharashtra. Our party firmly believes that it is against the idea of India and fundamentally against the Constitution of India,” Nitin Raut, Cabinet minister of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, had announced following the passage of the Bill.
The BJP has hit out at the Sena for compromising its “core ideology just for the greed of power”. “The Act is on the lines of the core values taught by Hindu Hriday Samrat Shiv Sena Pramukh Balasaheb Thackeray ji . Maharashtra and the entire nation will never forget this compromise,” BJP leader and former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said. He added that the Sena had likely changed its stand on the Act due to ‘pressure from the Congress’.
Meanwhile, the BJP criticised Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his remarks on Veer Savarkar at New Delhi on Saturday. “Veer Savarkar has sacrificed his entire life for our Matru Bhumi . Using such language for him is an insult to all the great patriots and freedom fighters who have sacrificed their lives. So Rahul Gandhi must apologise to our nation for yet another irresponsible statement. Rahul Gandhi’s statement is absolutely condemnable. He is nowhere close to even a single good deed of Veer Savarkar and his greatness. Not just this, he should not even do the blunder of considering himself a ‘Gandhi’. One cannot become ‘Gandhi’ by just making his surname Gandhi,” Mr Fadnavis said.
