Centre fails to sell NCTC to states
6 Jun 2013 12:43 AM GMT
The Centre’s ambitious plan to set up the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) on Wednesday was shot down not only by the chief ministers of Opposition-ruled states but also one from their own ranks – Karnataka chief minister N Siddaramaiah, who voiced reservations on full-fledged operationalisation of the counter terror centre.
Chief ministers opposing the move at the CMs’ conference on national security argued that the set-up was against the principle of federalism. Following the opposition, the architect of NCTC, Finance Minister P Chiadambaram, lashed out saying, ‘If this NCTC is opposed, I am afraid, as I said, the country will pay price from time to time.’
Earlier in the day, chief ministers opposing the move called NCTC a ‘poorly conceived’ idea. Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi urged the Prime Minister to junk the proposal. He said, ‘I think the new draft circulated has taken into consideration some of the concerns raised by the states. However, even in the new draft, some concerns remain.’
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar stuck to the apprehensions he had expressed on the NCTC last year and said, ‘I had expressed serious apprehensions about the structure, powers and functions of the proposed NCTC. The draft still suffers from several serious flaws.’ Mamata Banerjee said the proposed anti-terror hub is not in sync with the federal structure of the country.
Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh who has been facing flak in view of the recent Naxal attack in Chattisgarh said, ‘We are opposed to the NCTC in its present state.’
The NCTC is a proposed federal anti-terror agency to be created in India. The proposal came up after the 2008 Mumbai attacks, but has met much criticism from the chief ministers of various states who see the move as a means to weaken India’s federalism.
Defending NCTC, Chidambaram said that the latest draft says it will work directly under the home ministry and not the IB. Besides, when a terrorist or a terror group is identified or located, operations against them would be carried out through or in conjunction with state police, said Chidambaram. Finance minister also criticised Modi and said, ‘He (Modi) wants an anti-terror law or strengthening of anti-terror law. Actually he wants to bring back TADA and POTA. Why did not he say so... . The Congress party is opposed to POTA, the UPA is opposed to POTA,’ he said.
Next Story
