Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray has assured Muslims that he will not allow detention camps to be set up in the state under the National Register of Citizens (NRC), even as he maintained silence on implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) or NRC.
His clarification came amid reports that the Maharashtra government was building a detention centre in Navi Mumbai under the NRC. “Detention camps are for foreign nationals who have served their sentence, so that they can go ahead with their deportation process. However, we will not allow any detention camps in the state,” Thackeray told a delegation of Muslim community on him on Monday.
The earlier government in August 2019 had asked the City and Industrial Development Corporation, development authority of Navi Mumbai, to make available space to build a detention centre at Nerul in Navi Mumbai. A senior home department official said the centre was planned according to the directives from the Central government and meant for foreign nationals who are awaiting deportation to their countries. The capacity of the detention centre could be less than 50, he added. In the same communication, the state government had told the CIdco that it was looking for three acres of land for a permanent detention center.
Meanwhile, Thackeray also assured the delegation that his government will ensure that there is no injustice against the community in light of the recent controversy over the NRC and the CAA. However, unlike many of his counterparts in other states, he did not say that NRC would not be implemented in Maharashtra. This is despite both his allies, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), opposing it. Thackeray had earlier told the media that he would wait for the Supreme Court’s decision on a bunch of petitions challenging the CAA-NRC. “Thackeray is well aware that he lacks administrative experience and is being very cautious. He does not want to give any ammunition to the opposition parties through his statements,” said political analyst Hemant Desai. He, however, said ultimately Thackeray will have to pay heed to his allies and junk the NRC as both NCP chief Sharad Pawar and state Congress chief Balasaheb Thorat have opposed the implementation of the NRC in the state. Besides, Thackeray himself has been critical of the BJP on the NRC-CAA issue, saying its crackdown on Jamia Islamia Millia University was akin to the 1919 Jallianwala Baug massacre. The Congress, meanwhile, accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of misleading the nation on the issue of detention centres. Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said Modi’s claim that there were no detention centres was false as the Central Government had sent a draft on detention centres to the states in early 2019.
{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, Thackeray also assured the delegation that his government will ensure that there is no injustice against the community in light of the recent controversy over the NRC and the CAA. However, unlike many of his counterparts in other states, he did not say that NRC would not be implemented in Maharashtra. This is despite both his allies, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), opposing it. Thackeray had earlier told the media that he would wait for the Supreme Court’s decision on a bunch of petitions challenging the CAA-NRC. “Thackeray is well aware that he lacks administrative experience and is being very cautious. He does not want to give any ammunition to the opposition parties through his statements,” said political analyst Hemant Desai. He, however, said ultimately Thackeray will have to pay heed to his allies and junk the NRC as both NCP chief Sharad Pawar and state Congress chief Balasaheb Thorat have opposed the implementation of the NRC in the state. Besides, Thackeray himself has been critical of the BJP on the NRC-CAA issue, saying its crackdown on Jamia Islamia Millia University was akin to the 1919 Jallianwala Baug massacre. The Congress, meanwhile, accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of misleading the nation on the issue of detention centres. Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said Modi’s claim that there were no detention centres was false as the Central Government had sent a draft on detention centres to the states in early 2019.
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