Not just CAA, Thackeray clears NPR after meeting PM Modi. But there’s a caveat

Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray’s stand on the contentious changes to the citizenship law (CAA) and the population register (NPR) mirrors the stand of the ruling NDA coalition, a Congress leader said

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday accused some political leaders of instigating people against the amended citizenship law that is being opposed by people in several parts of the country. Thackeray, who stressed that there was no reason for people to be worried about the citizenship law or the national population register.

“Those people who have instigated it, they need to understand CAA… Why are we opposing it, why are we supporting it. First we need to understand it,” Thackeray said to , when asked if he would make efforts to convince people about CAA.

Thackeray, who was on his first visit to Delhi after becoming chief minister, started his visit with a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

At the media briefing that followed, Uddhav Thackeray said he had fruitful discussions with the prime minister and had spoken about issues concerning Maharashtra. The discussion at some point veered to the citizenship law and the protests around it.

Watch | No one needs to fear CAA, NPR: Uddhav Thackeray after meeting PM Modi

 

Thackeray said he did discuss citizenship law, National Population Register and the National Register of Citizens with the prime minister and no one has any reason to fear the CAA.

This isn’t the first time that the Shiv Sena chief has made this point about the citizenship law.

But the last time he spoke about the topic, he had been ambivalent about the population register. Thackeray had then said that though there did not seem anything out of the ordinary in carrying out the exercise, he would need to personally go through the NPR questions before he makes up his mind.

At Friday’s meeting, there were no such riders.

Asked if he was all right with the questions, Uddhav signalled that he wasn’t going to block the population register update due to begin soon.

“NPR also, no one is going to throw anyone out (because of the population register). It is about the census that happens every 10 years. But if it starts and we think that there is something dangerous about it, then there can be a dispute at that point,” he said.

The Maharashtra chief minister’s public assertions on the CAA and the NPR ahead of his meeting with Sonia Gandhi a few minutes later is significant. One Congress leader wondered if the timing of Uddhav Thackeray’s briefing was designed to signal to his allies that he was not going to change his stand on this topic. He also pointed out that the contents of Uddhav Thackeray’s stand on CAA and the NPR appeared to mirror the stand of its ex-ally, BJP and the ruling national coalition NDA.

The Shiv Sena had exited the NDA last year when it broke up with the BJP over its refusal to let him be the chief minister. Thackeray had, even after his exit, acknowledged that the Sena was ideologically aligned with the BJP rather than its two allies, the Congress and the NCP. He had, however, underscored that the three parties would be able to work it out. Thackeray made the same point at the briefing even as he struck a discordant note on CAA and NPR. “There is no friction among allies. We are going to run Maha govt for 5 years,” he said.