Amid a controversy over his sharing a platform with controversial student leader Umar Khalid at the meet, Maharashtra Minister and Shiv Sena leader Aditya Thackeray on Saturday opted out of a national students’ conference on Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) being held in the city on Sunday.
Aditya — who had earlier consented to participate along with the leaders of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and speak at the anti-CAA-NRC conference to be held at the Yeshwantrao Chavan Centre on Sunday — conveyed to the organisers on Saturday about his inability to attend the conference ostensibly due to pre-occupation with other work.
Confirming the absence of Aditya at the anti-CAA-NRC conference, Chhatra Bharati’s Mumbai unit President Sachin M. Bansode told “the Pioneer”: “Aditya Thackeray has informed us that he will not be able to attend tomorrow’s conference. However, he has not given any reason for his inability to attend the conference”.
Sources said that Aditya might have chosen to skip the anti-CAA-NRC conference to avoid sharing of a platform with Khalid, a former student of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) who was involved in the 2016 JNU sedition controversy. Khalid is one of the key speakers at the meet.
Apart from Khalid, the other prominent speakers at Sunday’s anti- CAA-NRC conference are poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar, Aligarh Muslim University Students Union President Salman Imtiaz, Jamia Milia University student leader Hammadur Rehman, TISSSU chief Bhatta Ram, student leaders Sadiya Shaikh and Richa Singh.
Another reason for Aditya’s absence at Sunday’s conference being cited in the Sena circles is another controversy over some unsavoury allegation made in a booklet on Veer Savarkar brought out by the Congress-affiliated All India Congress Seva Dal as part of its 10-day camp in Madhya Pradesh.
The other key speakers at the conference are Congress leader Cabinet Minister in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government tin the state Varsha Gaikwad, NCP MLA and Sharad Pawar’s grand nephew Rohit Pawar and Lok Bharati chief Kapil Patil.
“Chhatra Bharati” and other anti-CAA-NRC joint action committee of other student and leftist organisations have organised Sunday’s conference.
The other organisations who have teamed up with “Chhatra Bharati” to organise the conference are: AISF, SFI, ASA, TISS Students Unions, Samyak, MASU, SIO, CYSS, PSU, Republican Panther, AIPC, AYW, Vidyarthi Bharati and Mumbai Graduates Forum.