Central agencies did not come calling when Bal Thackeray criticised Rajiv: Uddhav at Cong event
Mumbai, Aug 20: Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday said that despite being bitter rivals in the past, the undivided Shiv Sena and Congress were never vindictive towards each other.
Speaking at a 'Sadbhavana Diwas' event here to mark the birth anniversary of the late Rajiv Gandhi, Thackeray also noted that Central agencies never harassed Shiv Sena leaders even though party founder Bal Thackeray had criticised the then prime minister in his speeches.
Thackeray, who joined hands with the Congress in 2019 after parting ways with the Bharatiya Janata Party, took part in a Congress event for the first time. He also wore a Congress scarf for a brief time.
The programme was also attended by NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.
Pawar said it was unfortunate that Prime Minister Narendra Modi harbours a grudge against the Nehru-Gandhi family whose four generations have toiled for the country.
"No one can erase the contributions of (former prime minister Jawaharlal) Nehru and his family from the country's contribution," Pawar said.
Describing Rajiv Gandhi as a civilised man, Thackeray said despite having a brute majority of more than 400 seats in 1984, he brought in legislation to strengthen the Panchayati Raj and decentralise power.
He said Rajiv Gandhi did not put his photo on inoculation certificates despite carrying out vaccination programmes at such a large scale, in an apparent dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was criticised for having his images on COVID-19 vaccine certificates.
"Shiv Sena and Congress were bitter opponents, but they never acted with vindictiveness towards each other," Thackeray said.
"Sena chief Bal Thackeray harshly criticised Rajiv Gandhi (when he was PM) but at no point I recall CBI, ED or Income Tax knocking on the doors of Shiv Sena leaders," he said, taking a veiled swipe at the BJP-led Union government.
Opposition often accuses the Narendra Modi government of misusing Central investigation agencies against its political opponents.
Thackeray said Rajiv Gandhi never shied away from tackling challenges and took on them boldly, referring to the steps the former prime minister had initiated to deal with the militancy in Punjab and northeast India.
"But (now the attitude is) let Manipur and Kashmir burn," he said.
Thackeray also accused the BJP of resorting to "power jihad".
The Opposition managed to reduce the BJP-led alliance's strength in the Lok Sabha in the general elections, he said and called for the defeat of the ruling Mahayuti in the coming assembly elections in Maharashtra.
The BJP accused him of abandoning Hindutva for the sake of aligning with the Congress even though the saffron party didn't mind joining hands with JD (U) chief Nitish Kumar and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu (who have different ideologies), Thackeray said.
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SC to hear on May 4 PIL seeking stringent guidelines for issuing Aadhaar to adolescents, adults
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday a plea seeking a direction to the Unique Identification Authority of India to issue new Aadhaar cards only to citizens up to the age of six years, and frame stringent guidelines for its issuance to adolescents and adults to stop infiltrators from masquerading as Indian citizens.
As per the apex court's causelist of May 4, the plea would come up for hearing before a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi.
The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay has also sought a direction to the authorities to install display boards at common service centres stating that the 12-digit unique identification number is only a "proof of identity" and not a proof of citizenship, address or date of birth.
Besides all the states and Union Territories, the plea has made the UIDAI -- which is the authority that issues Aadhaar -- and the Union ministries of home, law and justice, and electronics and information technology as parties.
The plea, filed through advocate Ashwani Dubey, said Aadhaar, originally intended as a proof of identity, has increasingly become a "foundational document" enabling individuals to obtain other identification documents, such as ration cards, domicile certificates and voter identity cards.
"The UIDAI has issued 144 crore Aadhaar and 99 percent Indians have been enrolled. Therefore, the petitioner is filing this writ petition as a PIL under Article 32, seeking a direction to UIDAI to issue new Aadhaar to children only and frame new stringent guidelines for adolescents and adults, so as to stop infiltrators from getting it and masquerading as Indian citizens," the plea said.
It said the need to file the plea arose when the petitioner came to know the manner in which infiltrators are able to procure Aadhaar through a verification process that is weak and can be easily manipulated.
"Foreigners apply for Aadhaar under the 'foreign' category. But infiltrators apply for Aadhaar under the 'Indian citizen' category and get it easily made. Thereafter, they obtain a ration card, birth and domicile certificate, driving licence, et cetera, essentially becoming indistinguishable from Indian citizens…," it said.
Besides seeking other directions, the plea has raised legal questions, including whether the Aadhaar Act 2016 has become "temporally unreasonable" for failing to keep up with the legislative intent of distinguishing foreigners from Indian citizens.
It said the alleged misuse of Aadhaar undermines targeted welfare delivery and leads to diversion of public resources.
