New allies NCP and the Shiv Sena on Monday blasted the BJP-led government at the Centre over police action against the students of Delhi's Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) and the amended Citizenship Act as the NDA lead party came under increasing criticism over the new law.
Criticising the Centre over police crackdown on those protesting the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in Delhi, the NCP said such "muzzling" of voices was unfortunate, and asked the Modi government to re-think over the new law given the opposition to it.
The Sharad Pawar-led party said the role of police comes under scanner when peaceful protests turn violent.
The Delhi-based JMI university had turned into a battlefield on Sunday as police entered the campus and also used force following protest against the CAA, which led to violence and arson.
The police action triggered a wave of protests throughout the country on Monday with demonstrations in campuses of several educational institutes, including in Hyderabad, Lucknow, Mumbai and Kolkata.
The morning after violence broke out in the national capital, thousands of students across India took to streets demanding a probe into the use of teargas inside the Jamia library as well as police entering the campus without permission from the university authorities.
NCP chief spokesperson Nawab Malik said videos were circulating on social media which purportedly showed some policemen torching a vehicle.
He, however, did not specify location where the vehicle was torched.
"It has to be probed how the violence was stoked. The police's role comes under scanner when peaceful protests turn violent," Malik said.
He said the BJP "does not understand" that people have to be taken into confidence while running a government.
"The government should re-think on this, respecting the sentiments of people, or else the matter is before the judiciary," he said.
NCP spokesman Sanjay Tatkare also expressed a similar view.
"It is unfortunate that the central government is muzzling the protests. They should allow the protests in a democratic way. We urge that the government re-think on the CAA as so many people are against it countrywide," he said.
Tatkare noted that parties like the Asom Gana Parishad, a BJP ally, were also opposing the new law after supporting it earlier.
"It is then pretty evident that public pressure is so much that these parties are having re-think on it (the CAA). So, the government should also re-think on it," he said.
Meanwhile, the Shiv Sena, a former ally of the BJP which had supported the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB) in the Lok Sabha last week, accused the NDA government of stifling voices of people.
"The BJP has the habit of imposing decisions on people of the country like it had imposed demonetisation, GST and other decisions on them," Shiv Sena spokesperson Manisha Kayande told PTI over phone.
She alleged it was the BJP's style of functioning that it does not answer the questions people raise and added the Sena's queries in connection with the CAB, too, were not replied.
"They are stifling voices. They muzzled voices during Aarey protest (in Mumbai) too...the protests are on across the country now (over CAA). It is their style of functioning they do not take people into confidence," Kayande added.
Kayande was referring to the protests by citizens and environmentalists against cutting of trees for a Metro carshed in Aarey Colony, a green belt in suburban Goregaon.
The NCP and the Sena are part of the new Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra in which the Congress is also a key constituent.
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