Fadnavis criticises Pawar for 'knowingly' spreading confusion on citizenship law

Former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday hit out at NCP chief Sharad Pawar, saying even "senior leaders" were now spreading misinformation "knowingly" and creating fear and confusion on CAA and NRC.

Speaking at an event on Citizen Amendment Act here, Fadnavis said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has clearly stated that there was no talk of implementing NRC in the government and a wider consultation was going on and after this consultation is over, a decision will be taken.

"Even after such clear statement what is going on in the country?" he said.

He said he suspected fear was being spread "knowingly" to create chaos in the country.

"Now new things are coming up in this regard. A few days ago, I was listening to a speech of senior Maharashtra leader Sharad Pawar. I don't believe Sharad Pawar does not know CAA, he very well knows CAA, and that NRC is not there now.

"But what did he say in his speech? He talked about the shepherd community (Banjara Samaj) which keeps moving from place to place and laws are not applicable to them. Hence, even shepherd community will be sent away from the country. I feel if senior leaders will spread fear like this about a community which has no relation to this... Who will send them away from this country? It is their country?

"But knowingly (Jaaniv purvak) confusion is being created for vote-bank politics and efforts are being made to take benefit of this confusion to create chaos in the country. Besides, many people are thinking that these agitation are steps for them to come to power," said Fadnavis.

The former chief minister said people don't know much about the citizenship law or the National register of Citizens (NRC).

"Minorities are being told — through CAA your registration will done and if you are not registered then you will be sent back to Pakistan and Bangladesh. A false narrative is being spread on a huge scale to create an atmosphere of fear among the minority community," he said.

He said "unfortunately" mainstream political parties were also spreading false information, creating chaos (arajakta) and fear among the minorities and particularly the Muslim community.

"This Act is to grant citizenship and there is no provision in the Act which takes away anyone's citizenship right," Fadnavis assured.