Extending his support to the new citizenship law and the proposed National Register of Citizens, MNS chief Raj Thackeray on Sunday warned of giving a “befitting reply” to rallies being held against the CAA and the NRC.

In the afternoon, the MNS took out a march from Girgaum Chowpatty to Azad Maidan in south Mumbai demanding eviction of illegal Pakistani and Bangladeshi infiltrators from the country. The morcha was culminated at Azad Maidan.

Addressing the gathering of thousands of MNS activists at the Maidan, Thackeray said: “Henceforth a stone will be answered with a stone and a sword with a sword”.

The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief himself joined the “mahamorcha” (mega march) on foot from Hindu Gymkhana to Metro Junction, a distance of about 1km. His wife Sharmila and son Amit also participated in the programme.

“Today, anti-CAA and anti-NRC protests were given a befitting reply with this protest rally of the MNS. But let me warn you, next time morchas will be answered with morchas. And if you continue with your drama, stones will be answered with stones and swords with swords,” he said.

Thackeray also wondered “opposition” of Muslims to the CAA and the NRC.

“I don’t understand why Muslims are protesting against the CAA and the NRC. Who is going to evict those who are living in India since their birth?” he asked.

“...To whom are you (anti-CAA and anti-NRC protesters) trying to show your power, and why?” he said.

Protesters form a human chain from Malwani to Charkop as part of a demonstration against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and National Register of Citizens in Mumbai on Sunday. (PTI)

Thackeray blamed the ongoing protests against the CAA and the NRC on the “lack of proper understanding” of the issues.

“The CAA gives citizenship to those Hindus who have faced religious atrocities in neighbouring countries (Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh and migrated to India),” he said.

“Do you (illegal immigrants from Pakistan and Bangladesh) consider my county a ‘dharmashala’ (charity shelter)?” Thackeray asked while speaking on the NRC.

He also wondered if the Union government enacted the CAA as a “ploy to divert the attention of people from the poor financial situation prevailing in the country”.

Thackeray appealed to the Central government to give a “free hand to the police for 48 hours to evict infiltrators from Mumbai”.

‘Counter agenda’

Civil society and educated youth must go the villages to counter the agenda of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, said actor Sushant Singh at an antiCitizenship Amendment Act gathering at Haj House in the metropolis on Sunday.

Among those who spoke at the gathering, which was attended by hundreds of women, were former IIT professor and activist Ram Puniyani and former principal of St Xavier’s College Father Frazer Mascarenhas.

“We have to remove communalism from the Indian fabric. Through a sustained campaign, we may be able to put an end to CAANRC, but the threat of communalism will remain,” Singh said.

“Members of civil society and educated youth must go to the villages to counter the RSS agenda,” he added.

Professor Puniyani said the BJP has been claiming that the primary problem of Muslim women was triple talaq, whereas movements led by women from the community have shown that the primary problems was “the threat to the Muslim community”.

Puniyani said the Narendra Modi government was bringing in divisive laws like the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and proposing the National Register of Citizens exercise to divert attention of people from failed promises like bringing back black money, and devastating effects of demonetisation and price rise.

Father Mascarenhas said the economy was in serious crisis and the need of the |hour was to work towards building a united, progressive nation.