Uddhav Thackeray meets Sonia Gandhi, discusses CAA-NPR-NRC

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and held discussions on the functioning of the 'Maha Vikas Agadi' government and CAA-NPR-NRC.

Accompanied by his son and state minister Aaditya Thackeray and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut, Uddhav met Gandhi at her 10, Janpath residence. AICC general secretary in-charge of Maharashtra Mallikarjun Kharge was also present during the meeting. This is the first meeting of Thackeray with Gandhi after the formation of the coalition government of Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP in Maharashtra.

The meeting lasted for around half-an-hour and the leaders are learnt to have discussed the functioning of the coalition government and the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Population Register (NPR). 

Thackeray's stand on the CAA and NPR has become a major cause of disagreement among the allies in Maharashtra, as the Congress and the NCP are opposed to the measures while the Shiv Sena is supporting the new law as well as the population register.

The meeting came soon after Thackeray's meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi where he is said to have discussed the CAA, NPR and the NRC.

After his meeting with Modi, Uddhav asserted that no one has to fear the CAA and no one will be thrown out of the country due to NPR.

He said an atmosphere is also being created in the country that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) is dangerous and people have to queue up to prove their citizenship.

Thackeray said Prime Minister Modi had promised that the NRC will not be implemented in the entire country. The chief minister said he has been assured by Modi that NRC will only be implemented in Assam. 

"As for the NPR and Census, Census is conducted every 10 years and I have assured all my state`s residents that their citizenship will not be taken away," he said.

Speaking on the CAA, Uddhav said, "This law (CAA) is not to take away citizenship from anyone. However, this law is about giving citizenship to the minorities of the neighbouring countries. No one should be scared of CAA."

It is to be noted that the Shiv Sena voted for the CAA to be passed in the parliament, even though the party's ally in Maharashtra, the Congress, voted against it.

Protests have erupted across the country after the contentious bill was passed by the Parliament in December last year. The Citizenship Amendment Bill. which became the Citizenship Amendment Act after assent by President Ram Nath Kovind. grants Indian citizenship to refugees belonging to the Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Parsi, and Jain communities from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh who had been living in India before December 31 2014.