New Delhi:
The government's hardsell of its new, diluted National Counter Terrorism Centre or NCTC did not impress many at a chief ministers' meet in the capital today. But it did spark a political pow-wow on the sidelines of the meeting.
Narendra Modi versus P Chidambaram.
Mr Modi brought up the issue at the CMs' meet on internal security, slamming the ruling UPA for not being "serious on tackling terrorism" and said, "Making new institutions destabilises the system."
(Read: Who stands where on NCTC)Talking to reporters later, the Gujarat Chief Minister alleged that the government's rush to set up the anti-terror hub was politically motivated so close to general elections. "I made a very grave allegation today. That they talk of national security but their actions are for political security. The formation of new institutions is to serve this purpose," he said.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram, who as Home Minister had conceptualised the NCTC, took on Mr Modi almost immediately. He warned that if the NCTC was not set up, "the country will pay a price."
"There is no new-new agency. We are not creating a multiplicity of agencies. We formed the Multi Agency Centre and today Modi himself praises the MAC. We formed the National Investigation Agency... everybody wants the NIA," Mr Chidambaram said.
He pointed out that the powers of the NCTC had been modified, read diluted, and expressed dismay that "some CMs oppose NCTC even in its present form."
Mr Chidambaram's version was a crack anti-terror hub with the right to operate, when necessary, without keeping states in the loop to prevent information leaks. But many Chief Ministers slammed it as against the federal structure; law and order they argued was a state subject and state governments had to be in the know.
After the unequivocal criticism, the UPA government has re-diagrammed the NCTC. The new draft proposal says that the NCTC will carry out anti-terror operations, if any, "through or in conjunction with the state police." It will also no longer be under the Intelligence Bureau (IB), as was proposed earlier.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who did not attend the meeting, sent word that the proposed NCTC upsets the federal structure of the country. Most other CMs at the Delhi meeting, including those from the Congress, agreed and with no consensus, the proposed anti-terror body has practically been pushed to cold storage.