Former Chief Minister of Maharashtra and senior Congress leader from Maharashtra, Ashok Chavan, has admitted that the Congress party entered an alliance with the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra after receiving due approval from the Muslim community. In what is being construed as a blatant admission of ‘Muslim appeasement’, Chavan was speaking in the context of the Citizenship Amendment Act.
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Ashok Chavan stated, “This is our state. Our government has been formed in the state. We decided to be a part of the government to keep BJP away from power. Maharashtra should not face damage again akin to what BJP inflicted in the last 5 years. Most of the Muslim brothers said that our biggest enemy is BJP and Congress should be a part of the government to stop BJP. That’s why the Congress party is in the government today. Till our government is there, we will not allow the implementation of CAA in the state.”
The comment by Chavan has set the cat among the pigeons. The NCP, for its part, appears to be keeping itself away from the entire controversy. Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik has stated that it was their policy to keep the BJP out of power.
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The BJP has entered the fray and targeted both, the Congress party and the Shiv Sena, over the comment made by Ashok Chavan. Accusing the Shiv Sena of being power-hungry, the BJP claims that the Congress party is misleading people on the issue of CAA.
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The comment by Chavan puts Shiv Sena in a tough spot. It remains to be seen whether the party will oppose the CAA just because the Congress party wants to appease its Muslim vote bank. The Shiv Sena appears to be abandoning the Hindutva plank of late and opposition to CAA will be the final nail in the coffin.
Read: Siding with ‘Free Kashmir’ through its mouthpiece Saamna: Shiv Sena 2.0
The Congress party’s stand on the CAA has been clear from the very beginning, they have decided to oppose the Act that provides citizenship to persecuted minorities from neighbouring Islamic States tooth and nail. Congress-ruled Punjab had passed a resolution against the CAA after Kerala did the same. Despite their claims of being secular, the Congress party had called for an ‘Iftar party’ earlier this month as a mark of protest against the CAA and NRC.