Congress or Mahatma Gandhi made a mistake by making Jawaharlal Nehru the Prime Minister of the country, Shiv Sena UBT leader Uddhav Thackeray said here on Thursday. “Had Vallabhbhai Patel been the Prime Minister, RSS would not have come up. The ban on the organisation would have continued,” he added.
Mr. Thackeray was speaking at the State-wide agitation of opposition parties and civil rights groups against the Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill. NCP SP president Sharad Pawar, MP Supriya Sule, Maharashtra Congress president Harshawardhan Sapkal were among the leaders present for the agitation.
The opposition parties of the Maha Vikas Aghadi announced three major programmes and promised to actively participate in the agitations against the Bill. “There will be a State-wide protest on September 10. Regional conventions will be held on October 2. Large public meetings will be held in the constituencies of all the MVA MPs and MLAs to create awareness campaigns. Such campaigns will also be held during the upcoming festival of Ganeshotsav,”Ulka Mahaja, one of the convenors of the meeting, told The Hindu.
“I looked up the Bill. It says, ‘extremist left wing organisations’ at two places. But our Constitution is secular. There is no distinction between right and left there,” he said. “Whoever is involved in anti-national activities, hang them to death but the act has no mention of treason. Instead it talks about extremist leftists which is also not defined. Let the government clearly say that the law is against those involved in anti-national activities, we will extend support but it should not be used discriminately,” Mr. Thackeray added.
Mr. Thackeray requested Chief Justice of India BR Gavai to look into the cases related to vertical splits in Shiv Sena and NCP. “Our CJI has assured to relook at the ban on stray dogs despite a ruling from a supreme court bench. I want to request him with folded hands that Shiv Sena and NCP cases are pending with you… I am requesting you as democracy is writhing at the doorstep of the supreme court. It is about to die, pay your attention here as well,” he said.
Sharad Pawar said that it was unfortunate that sufficiently strong opposition wasn’t put forth in the Legislative Assembly when the Bill was introduced. “We will have to spread awareness against it in the entire State now. Power is being misused. Several progressive leaders like Teltumbde, Eknath Salve have been facing an assault on their fundamental rights in a democracy. This is serious,” he said.
“BJP has successfully captured all the four estates of democracy. Now they want to terrorise and capture the fifth pillar, i.e. the civil society organisations. Public Security Bill is precisely that attempt. We resolve to fight against it to protect our independence and constitutional rights,” Ulka Mahajan, the representative of civil society, said.
