Anti-communal violence Bill: Centre trying to polarise voters, says BJP

Mr Jaitley said, "It appears that on the eve of the Lok Sabha elections, in order to polarize the country on communal lines, the home ministry has again written a letter to the state governments. There hasn't so far been adequate consultation with the stakeholders."

The BJP has accused the ruling Congress of trying to pass the Bill ahead of national polls due by May, in the hope of winning Muslim votes. Arun Jaitley questioned the very basis of the Bill, since law and order is a state subject.

The party had in the past assailed the proposed law for talking of minority and majority groups - which the party says reinforces communalism - and assuming that only members of a minority can be targeted during a riot, that the majority community will never be victims.

The revised Bill has not been made public, but Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa criticised it at the all party meeting today and reiterated the arguments she made in a strong letter to the Prime Minister on Monday.

"The provisions of the Bill are vague and can be subjected to serious abuse," Ms Jayalalithaa said, commenting that the changes in the earlier draft were "cosmetic at best and highly objectionable."

The Chief Minister objected to "unfettered" powers of human rights bodies at the Centre and states to issue directives to state governments.

Ms Jayalalithaa also flagged concerns about some provisions "targeting" government officials. "It may render their functioning almost impossible while trying to grapple with communally sensitive situations," she said.

The 'Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill' was drafted by the National Advisory Council or NAC, a group of activists and civil society representatives chaired by Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

The Bill was put in cold storage after several regional parties called it an infringement on the powers of a state government, as it allows the Centre to directly intervene in restoring law and order in riot-hit areas without imposing President's rule.

The proposed law came back into focus after the Muzaffarnagar riots in which 60 people were killed and nearly 40,000 displaced. The Congress and Samajwadi Party have accused the BJP of inciting the violence for electoral gains in Uttar Pradesh.