Din in Maha Assembly over amended Citizenship Act

The Maharashtra Assembly witnessed din on Wednesday when the opposition BJP objected to a Congress leader's comments that the amended Citizenship Act should not be implemented in the state. After the House assembled for the day, senior Congress leader and former chief minister Ashok Chavan dubbed the new citizenship law as "unconstitutional" and said it should not be implemented in the state.

However, Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis objected to Chavan's demand. "Both the Houses of Parliament have passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA). This (state) government can't decide not to implement it," he said.

Supporting Fadnavis, senior BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar said, "The Assembly members cannot comment on decisions of the President, Assembly speaker and Parliament. Hence, CAA cannot be called 'unconstitutional'." NCP member Jitendra Awhad objected to it and said any law which is available in public domain can be discussed in the House.

"This House has previously discussed POTA (Prevention of Terrorism Act), so it also can discuss CAA," he said. Congress MLA Amin Patel also supported Chavan's demand and said, "This Act is not about Hindu or Muslim, but about rich and poor, it should not be implemented here,".

Amid the noisy scenes following arguments over the issue, the speaker adjourned the House for 10 minutes..