Daijiworld Media Network - Mumbai (SHP)
Mumbai, Dec 9: Before the Home Minister could present the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in parliament on Monday, the Shiv Sena government accused the centre of creating an 'invisible partition' of Hindus and Muslims. In their editorial Saamana, the Shiv Sena threw daggers at the BJP for 'selective acceptance' of illegal Hindu immigrants which could birth a religious war in the country.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill seeks to amend a six-decade-old law to make it easier for non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to become Indian citizens. Since the introduction of CAB, opposition parties have termed it discriminatory and alleged that it fails to uphold the basic tenet of secularism enshrined in the constitution of India.
The Shiv Sena - which fell out with the BJP, its ally of over four decades, over power-sharing in Maharashtra and finally took power in an alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress - has joined the opposition chorus.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led party stated that the 'vote bank politics' under the curtain of the bill (CAB) is not in the best interest of the country.
The Sena editorial also questioned the timing of the bill. "There is no dearth of problems in India now but still we are inviting new ones such as CAB. It looks like the Centre has made an invisible partition of Hindus and Muslims over the bill," said the party.
"It is true that there is no other country for Hindus except Hindustan. But by accepting only Hindus among the illegal immigrants, will it be a trigger of a religious war in the country?" the Sena questioned.
The former ally of BJP, Shiv Sena has over 18 MPs in the Lok Sabha, pointed out that most of the states from the North East region have opposed the bill along with Bihar, where the BJP is sharing power with the Janata Dal-United and West Bengal.
Owing to the sensitive nature of the CAB, the Sena appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take strong action against some neighbouring countries that torture Hindus as he had taken against Pakistan.
The Sena was also of the opinion that illegal immigrants be sent back to their country of origin. "The exact number of such illegal immigrants should be known. If it is in lacs then where are they going to be settled in India?" the party asked.
Illegal immigrants in Maharashtra are already a strain on local civic bodies, it said. "In such a scenario, states like Gujarat and Karnataka will have to play a major and humanitarian role to accommodate these immigrants," the party stated while taking a dig at BJP which is currently in power in both of the mentioned states.