CAA part of Modi govt’s deliberate strategy: Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan

Former Maharashtra Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan believes the government introduced the CAA as part of a deliberate strategy

CAA part of Modi govt’s deliberate strategy: Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan
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Zafar Agha/Mrinal Pande

Former Maharashtra Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan believes the government introduced the CAA as part of a deliberate strategy. He was speaking at the National Herald office and answered questions put to him by the Group Senior Editorial Advisor Mrinal Pande, Editor-in-Chief Zafar Agha and other editors.

Excerpts from their conversation:

How do you see the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and the protests against it?

I am convinced that this controversy has been deliberately created by the government to consolidate its support base and take political advantage of it. The aim was to create this kind of environment. Because if the government were really serious, it could always refer the matter to the Parliamentary Standing Committee where issues could be deliberated and resolved. There was no urgency to ram it through.

But that is how this government works. When they brought in GST, which the BJP had opposed earlier, everyone told them that it was a good law but was being implemented in a hurry. But they pushed it through because the Gujarat election was round the corner. Everything that this government  does is motivated by political considerations. It is all a part of their strategy.


You worked in the PMO for six years. How do you see the working style of Narendra Modi?

Since I was first elected to Parliament in 1991, I have seen several Prime Ministers at work. I, of course, worked with Dr Manmohan Singh in the PMO for six years.But I have never seen such a dictatorial style of working. The government looks like a rudderless ship with the PM taking decisions on his own whims. He decided to scrap the Planning Commission but nobody knows why. He constituted a Niti Aayog but again nobody knows what it was intended to achieve. No minister or secretary to the government now exercises any initiative—all the initiative must originate from the PMO. Nobody knows who his advisors are even as he seems to rely on officials from Gujarat.

The BJP’s propaganda always painted Dr Manmohan Singh as a weak Prime Minister. What is your assessment?

The office of the Indian Prime Minister is very powerful. And Dr Singh was a very astute Prime Minister…


But Sanjaya Baru in his book Accidental Prime Minister claimed that the PM was taking orders from the then Congress president, Sonia Gandhi?

There was no need to take orders from anyone. In fact, at the PMO, we had high-level meetings every week to supervise the progress of implementation of promises made in the Congress manifesto. Dr Singh would review the progress every quarter. We were all serious about implementing the promises made in the party manifesto.

But now, even when Prime Minister Modi and Union HomeMinister Amit Shah may take orders from outside, it never becomes an issue.

Nobody expected the Congress and the NCP to form a government with the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra. How did it come about and will it last?

The BJP’s war cry fora ‘Congress-mukt Bharat’ was actually a cry for an opposition-free India(Vipaksh-mukt Bharat). They believe in a dictatorial, one-party rule so thatthey can do what they please. They want to stick to power at any cost. DevendraFadnavis openly spoke about using ‘Saam-Daam-Dand-Bhed’ to regain power. And inthe run up to the Assembly election, he arm-twisted and blackmailed around 40sitting MPs and MLAs of the Congress and the NCP to switch sides. He had alreadyused his office to destroy institutions built by politicians in westernMaharashtra like sugarmills, cooperatives, educational institutions and many ofthe politicians buckled under pressure.

What’s more, Fadnavis spoke of launching big projects andpresided over big events; but he failed to complete even a single project. Hecouldn’t complete even projects launched when I was the Chief Minister. Therewas tremendous resentment against his government on the ground. That is why,despite the enormous money power it had at its disposal, BJP didn’t do as wellas it expected.


But an alliance with Shiv Sena did cause many eyebrows to rise.

If you look at history,Shiv Sena has worked with the Congress in the past. It supported Congress candidates Pratibha Patil and Pranab Mukherjee for President. Bala saheb Thackeray had campaigned for candidates put up by Indian Union Muslim League.It is a party which works for the ‘sons of the soil’ and we decided we could work with its present leadership. Yes, many Congress leaders were skeptical and even Sonia Gandhi was not comfortable. But we compared our manifestoes and did not find much that could be objected to. There is a Common Minimum Programme and a coordination committee which would work. Finally, we could not afford to let Fadnavis get back to power.

BJP supportersclaim he had done a lot of good work and was going after corruption…

The BJP stands exposedon its anti-corruption plank. Not only did it lure 40 sitting MLAs and MPsbefore the election from the INC and the NCP, even the Prime Minister, whoabused Ajit Pawar during the election campaign, had no problem in installinghim as the Deputy CM and congratulating him on Twitter. It showed howpower-hungry they are, that they would do anything, make any compromise toremain in power.


How do you assess the political situation nationally?

The economy is in a bad shape. This government would earlier take a lot of pride in bringing down inflation. But it is now at a six-year high. Growth is at the lowest in six years. Unemployment is again highest in the last four decades. But what sends a bad signal is when the PM and the Union Home Minister hold pre-Budget consultations with the Finance Minister nowhere in sight. It sends a wrong signal.

Maharashtra government appears to have decided to re-open the probe into CBI Special Judge B.H. Loya’s death.

This question was to put to the state’s Home Minister. And I believe he said that if some quarter want edit to be re-investigated, the government would consider it. So, I cannot say if an inquiry will take place.


Is there any ray of hope that you see?

Students and farmers both coming out to defend the Constitution is very heartening. Both these constituencies are important and their intervention will certainly make our democracy stronger.

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