‘Bid to centralise power’: MVA urges Governor to return Public Security Bill to govt for reconsideration

“Out of 12,500 objections raised against the Bill from citizens and organisations, around 9,500 were demanding to cancel the Bill. The state government should have gone for public hearing by considering the opposition,” said the letter.

It mentioned that the opposition had submitted a dissent note on the Bill by detailing its adverse impact on the citizens and various lacunae in it.

“It is requested that considering the people’s outrage against the Bill, it should be returned to the state government for reconsideration,” said the opposition.

Last week, both Houses of the legislature passed the Bill after being cleared by the joint selection committee.

While in Assembly, the opposition failed to register a strong opposition, it walked out of the legislative council after facing criticism from all quarters for failing to oppose the Bill strongly.

The Congress central leadership too sought reply from the Maharashtra Legislative party as to how did it allow passing of Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill without opposition.

On Thursday, party legislators huddled in a meeting chaired by Congress state president Harshvardhan Sapkal.
In the meeting, Congress MLAs were asked to be at forefront of every protest against government. The Congress has also directed all its district committees to organise protests by burning copies of the bill.

The opposition has maintained that the Bill, which Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has claimed to target left extremist forces and Naxalites, will be used against those who take anti-government stand and protest against its policies.

Fadnavis has assured that it won’t be misused.