No one need to fear the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Population Register (NPR) will not push anyone out of the country, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said on Friday after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In his first trip to Delhi after taking over as the Maharashtra Chief Minister, Mr. Thackeray also called on Congress president Sonia Gandhi as the Congress is part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in the State.
He also paid a courtesy visit to BJP patriarch L.K. Advani at his house.
“I had a good discussion with the Prime Minister over issues concerning Maharashtra. I also discussed the CAA, NPR and NRC with the Prime Minister. No one need to fear about the CAA. The NPR is not going to throw anyone out of the country,” he told reporters after meeting Mr. Modi.
The Chief Minister also said the Prime Minister had assured him of extending all cooperation to the Maharashtra government. His son and a Minister in his Cabinet, Aaditya Thackeray, was also part of his meetings.
Accompanied by Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut, and his son, the Maharashtra Chief Minister also made a ‘courtesy call’ on Ms. Gandhi at her residence.
Congress’ Maharashtra in-charge Mallikarjun Kharge was present in the meeting that went on for more than 45 minutes.
No statement
However, neither the Maharashtra Chief Minister nor the Congress issued any statement on what was discussed with Ms. Gandhi.
The Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party are reported to be upset with Mr. Thackeray over his stand on the NPR and the CAA.
But at the press conference that was held before his meeting with the Congress chief, Mr. Thackeray denied any friction among the constituents of the “Maha Aghadi” and asserted that the Maharashtra government would complete its five-year term.
“There is no friction among the allies. We are going to run the government for five years,” the Chief Minister said.
When asked about the Congress supporting the anti-CAA protests in Delhi, Mr. Thackeray said he didn’t know about them as he was not in Delhi.
He claimed that people were protesting against the citizenship law and the NPR after being ‘provoked’ but stopped short of naming those behind such provocation.
On NRC, the Maharashtra Chief Minister said the Centre had already ‘clarified’ that the National Register of Citizens was only limited to Assam and will not be a pan India exercise.
Keeping some room for flexibility on the NPR, the Chief Minister said that as of now there was no reason to doubt the process of the NPR and the Census but could review it if they encounter some problems in the future.