Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday wondered why nationalism cannot be the main agenda for the Maharashtra Assembly polls and why should anyone be scared of it. His statement comes a day after opposition parties criticised Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah for announcing that withdrawal of Article 370 from Jammu & Kashmir will be the core issue during poll campaign.
“Article 370 is not the only agenda. But why should nationalism not be the agenda of elections? In US elections, the agenda is wall at the border. The agenda in Europe is nationalism. Why are we scared to talk about nationalism?” he asked addressing a press conference at the party headquarters in Mumbai.
Mr. Fadnavis stressed that the party is happy with this being the agenda. “It is [withdrawal of Article 370] not only about Kashmir, it is also about the nation. But at the same time it won't be the only agenda,” he said.
The Chief Minister chose not to comment on the alliance between Shiv Sena and his party for the polls. “Just like you, I also care for the alliance. We will tell you once it is fixed. It should happen soon,” he said in reply to a query.
The Metro car shed in Aarey, where over 2,600 trees will be cut to make way for the structure, is becoming a bone of contention between both the parties with Sena opposing it while Mr Fadnavis pushing hard for it.
“I understand that concerns of some people about trees in Aarey are genuine in nature. But at the same time we have to figure out whether there are other motives behind it. We have discovered that around 10,000 objections to felling of trees came from one IP address in Bangalore,” claimed Mr. Fadnavis, hinting that an inquiry will be conducted.
Commenting on the availability of alternate land at Kanjurmarg, Mr. Fadnavis said it has to be bought at ₹5,000 cr. “The project cost will increase, where will the extra money come? It will have to be recovered from the Metro ticket. It will ultimately affect Mumbaikars. The high court, National Green Tribunal and even the Supreme Court have accepted that this is not a protected forest but a private land. Now people are in the court over tree authority’s permission to cut trees. We will wait for the verdict,” he said.
Mr. Fadnavis also said that the recent decision by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to reduce corporate tax, merging of banks and packages to new industries will benefit Maharashtra the most as it is the manufacturing hub of the country.
“Maharashtra expects unprecedented investment due to these measures. We are already leading in FDI and industrial investment. These decisions will help the State,” he said adding that the budget too was encouraging for the State but these will further be beneficial to Maharashtra.
