The Maharashtra Assembly on Wednesday witnessed an uproar after Congress leader and former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan said the Citizenship (Amendment) Act was unconstitutional and the State government should not implement it.
Moving the adjournment motion, Mr. Chavan said that thousands of students and citizens have hit the streets against the Act. “There are protests across the country against it. Since it has been challenged in the court, the state government should not implement the unconstitutional act,” said Mr. Chavan.
BJP MLAs opposed Mr. Chavan’s statement, demanding it to be expunged. Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis said, “Both Houses of Parliament have passed the Citizenship Amendment Act. This State government cannot decide not to implement it,” he said.
Senior BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar said, “The Assembly members cannot comment on decisions of the President, Assembly speaker and Parliament. Hence, CAA cannot be called unconstitutional and it should be removed from the records.”
Assembly speaker Nana Patole had to adjourn the House for 10 minutes after BJP MLAs rushed to the Speaker protesting and demanding to erase the word unconstitutional from the records.
Before adjournment, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA Jitendra Awhad said that the Bill is available in public domain and can be discussed in the House. “How can anyone stop the discussion? This House has previously discussed POTA Prevention of Terrorism Act, so it also can discuss CAA,” he said.
Mr. Awhad said that the act is not about Hindu versus Muslim but it is pitting rich against the poor. “The marginalised castes which do not have necessary papers to prove citizenship are going to face the problems once the NRC is cleared. We oppose it for that reason. Don’t try to give it communal color,” said the NCP MLA.
Congress MLA Amin Patel also supported Mr. Chavan’s demand and said, “This Act is not about Hindu or Muslim, but about rich and poor, it should not be implemented here.” Amid the noisy scenes following arguments over the issue, the speaker adjourned the House for 10 minutes. After the House reassembled, Mr. Patole said that the if found objectionable, certain mentions will be deleted from the record.
