CAA, NPR, NRC: MVA allies divided over the issues

With just a month to go for the National Population Register (NPR) to be rolled out in Maharashtra, the three parties in the government – the Shiv Sena, Congress

With just a month to go for the National Population Register (NPR) to be rolled out in Maharashtra, the three parties in the government – the Shiv Sena, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) – are yet to reach a consensus on the issues of the NPR, Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC).

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Even as the co-ordination committee met to discuss this issue last week, it could not arrive at an amicable solution. And the Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government’s decision to pass a resolution that the NRC is not needed and the NPR should be as per the 2010 format has led to another quandary, with a section of state Congress leaders demanding the same. To add to this muddle, deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on Sunday indicated there was no need for a resolution on the NRC.

“A few people are trying to start a debate on CAA, NRC and NPR by saying Bihar has done this.... If someone is trying to confuse you, tell them Pawar saheb [Sharad Pawar] has assured us that the MVA government will ensure no one from Maharashtra will be affected,” he said, while addressing workers to prepare for the BMC elections to be held in 2022.

An NCP minister said Ajit Pawar’s statement was specifically in context of passing a resolution in the legislature. “We are running a three-party government. Among us, the Sena’s ideology is different. If we force them to bring in a resolution, the BJP will get a chance to taunt the Sena,” he argued.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar is opposed to the NRC, NPR and CAA, while the CM recently, after he visited Prime Minister Narendra Modi, backed the CAA and NPR and reiterated his opposition to the NRC. “The NPR is proposed along with the census. We will scrutinise the new columns, if any. If it seems problematic, we won’t take it ahead,” Thackeray had said then.

He his stance a day later after Pawar met him along with senior ministers, including his nephew Ajit Pawar and water resources minister Jayant Patil. He said a committee of senior ministers of all three parties would take a call.

Nitin Raut, state working president and energy minister, said, “We will allow implementation of the NPR only if no new conditions are added to it.”

A section of Congress leaders are also pushing to pass a resolution in the Assembly against the CAA, NRC and NPR. “We had one meeting with our partners, but no decision was taken. We will have another meeting,” Thorat said in Pune last week.