Decibels rise in war cries on NCTC/ Chidambaram turned to the Constitution to assert that it “made national security,internal security a shared respon

Decibels rise in war cries on NCTC

Sunday, 19 February 2012 00:06 Decibels rise in war cries on NCTC
PNS | Kolkata/New Delhi


As the number of Chief Ministers opposing Union Home Minister P Chidambaram’s pet project National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC) swelled to 10 — Karnataka’s Sadananda Gowda being the latest — the Centre on Saturday sought to remind States that fighting terrorism was a shared responsibility. The States quickly retaliated questioning the Centre’s responsibility by not sharing vital information about NCTC with the Chief Ministers.

With the face off showing no signs of easing, conciliatory voices started emerging from the Congress camp. But the BJP upped the ante further by demanding a meeting of the Inter-State Council to discuss the issue threadbare. Strongly backing the protesting Chief Ministers, it said that the proposed NCTC was not in line with that promised by the UPA Government and that the States should have been consulted on the issue.

The protests kicked off in the morning itself with UPA ally Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee snubbing Chidambaram by giving his function to inaugurate the NSG hub in Badu in the State a miss.

Her name was initially included in the brochure, but was subsequently dropped. No reason was assigned for her absence. Trinamool Congress leader and MoS for Shipping Mukul Roy and West Bengal Food Minister Jyotipriya Mallick attended the programme instead.

Compounding problems for the Government, Mamata had on Friday jumped on to the anti-NCTC bus, driven by the non-Congress-ruled States, by shooting off a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wherein she asked him to “review and withdraw” the proposal for establishment of the anti-terror body.

Mamata had joined Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who fired the first salvo in opposing the NCTC proposal. And soon their counterparts in Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka followed suit.

Inaugurating the NSG hub, about 50 kms from Kolkata, Chidambaram turned to the Constitution to assert that it “made national security, internal security a shared responsibility”. “I have a responsibility to work with the States to quell terror, any militancy or rebellion,” he maintained to counter the CMs’ contention

that the powers envisaged for the NCTC were an infringement of the federal structure.

Chidambaram’s assertion drew an immediate and strong response from Patnaik, who pointed out: “If security is the shared responsibility of the Centre and the State, then I am surprised that they (home ministry) are not sharing vital information with State governments. They have not shared information regarding the constitution of NCTC and its functioning and powers.”

Taking a dig at the Centre for not consulting the States, Patnaik maintained, “It is a matter of surprise that they can send heavy bills (for deployment of CRPF and BSF in states), but not the important notification issued on February 3.” The NCTC is proposed to come into existence from March 1 and Patnaik said they were not informed about it.

The Home Minister’s posturing notwithstanding, the Congress - which had aggressively backed the NCTC proposal till Friday - showed signs of mellowing down by talking of consultations. “If so many Chief Ministers have expressed their concerns, the Central government will talk to them, will certainly try to resolve their concerns and allay their apprehensions,” party spokesperson Manish Tewari said.

Maintaining that the NCTC proposed now is not in line with what was promised post-Mumbai terror attack, BJP spokesperson Jagat Prakash Nadda said, “In November 2009, Chidambaram had said NCTC would be an overarching body bringing better coordination, synergy and dynamism among the various agencies such as RAW, IB, NIA and NSG. Presently, as things stand the NCTC is reduced to be yet another agency under IB.” The BJP demanded that a meeting of the Inter-State Council be called to discuss this matter immediately instead of forming the NCTC through an executive order.