Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday, 5 March, appointed a cabinet sub-committee to study issues related to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Population Register (NPR).
The issue of whether the CAA and NPR should be backed is seen as a potential source of friction between Thackeray's party, the Shiv Sena, and its coalition partners Congress and NCP.
The committee will advise the cabinet as to what stand should be taken on these issues, he said in the Legislative Assembly. There was a lot of "unrest" on these issues in the country, he said.
The six-member committee will be headed by Parliamentary Affairs Minister and Shiv Sena leader Anil Parab. Its other members will be Housing Minister Jitendra Awhad, Relief and Rehabilitation Minister Vijay Wadettiwar, Sports Minister Sunil Kedar, Minority Affairs Minister Nawab Malik and Higher and Technical Education Minister Uday Samant.
“We are asked about our stand on issues like CAA, NRC (National Register of Citizens) and NPR. We discussed the issue in the cabinet,” Thackeray said.
“A six-member cabinet committee has been formed and it will study these issues and submit a report to the government, following which we will frame our stand,” he added.
Last month, Thackeray had said after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi that no one needs to be afraid of the CAA, and the NPR is not going to throw anyone out of the country.
The NCP and Congress, two other constituents of the Sena-led Maharashtra government, had expressed reservations about the CAA and the proposed NPR.
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