New Delhi:
The Central government today hosted an internal security meeting in New Delhi. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P Chidambaram tried to reach out to the chief ministers saying they were united in tackling the menace of terrorism. But non-Congress Chief Ministers who have been vocal about their opposition to the Centre's proposal to set up the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) circulated copies of their strong speeches over the issue.
"There is no question that the burden of the fight against terrorism falls largely on the states' machinery. The Centre is ready to work with the states to put in place strong and effective institutional mechanisms to tackle this problem," the Prime Minister said while inaugurating the meeting. (
Full text of PM's speech)
Mr Chidambaram, meanwhile, underscored, "There is no conflict between Central and state forces."
"One half of the cases were solved by the joint efforts of Centre and states. They work together, consult each other, share intelligence and, when necessary, mount joint operations to apprehend the suspects. In my view, such silent and invisible work of neutralising terrorist modules deserves as much praise as solving the terrorist cases," he added.
But these conciliatory efforts by the government hardly helped. Key non-Congress chief ministers including Gujarat's Narendra Modi, Tamil Nadu's J Jayalalithaa and Odisha's Naveen Patnaik attacked the Centre on setting up of a National Counter Terror Centre (NCTC) and other issues.
"Whether it is the NCTC, Railway Protection Force or the Border Security Force, the government's unilateral activity is creating an atmosphere of distrust between the Centre and the state," Mr Modi said after the meeting. He also asked the Prime Minister to take steps to remove the distrust.
Mr Modi's strongly-worded speech read, "Internal security is too serious a matter to be treated as an arena for one-upmanship by the Union Govt... state governments face the brunt of problems related to internal security and must be treated as partners." The copy released also said, "I would like to draw attention to the increasing politicisation of CBI to harass and victimise political rivals," and raises the point of defence preparedness saying, "Union Government has failed to instill faith and confidence about our Defence Preparedness in the common man..."
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa accused the Centre of trying to browbeat states and reducing them into glorified municipalities. "The constant attempts to reduce states to the level of glorified municipal corporations, heavily dependent on the Centre for funds, are a travesty of the federal nature of our existence. This attitude is disturbing and the implication of such exercises is not conducive to either state or national growth," she said.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who is in the midst of a Maoist hostage crisis, also hit out at the Centre for dangerous delays in sorting out the row over the anti-terror body."As you know, we have had a crisis involving abduction of an MLA (Jhina Hikaka) and also two Italian nationals by Left wing extremists and this delay will only further aggravate such problems," Mr Patnaik said.
He said that he'd been writing "repeatedly" to the Centre that it was a matter of "urgent" importance and an immediate meeting of chief ministers should be called to "address concerns about the federal rights of the states". "These new acts that the Central government brings out must be done in consultation with the state governments," Mr Patnaik said.
And Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee once again broke ranks with her ally, the UPA, saying it is unfair to expect Maoist-hit states to bear the cost of Central forces. She did not attend today's meeting and instead sent her Finance Minister, Amit Mitra. She reiterated, "The proposed anti-terror body upsets the federal structure." Lest her views on internal security be missed, she also said, "Left Wing extremism has serious implications on national security."
The key agenda of today's meeting convened by Home Minister P Chidambaram was the strengthening of anti-terror capabilities and intelligence, Maoist violence, police reforms and capacity building. The NCTC was discussed, but a separate meeting of chief ministers on that controversial issue has also been called on May 5, at the instance of CMs like Tamil Nadu's J Jayalalithaa and Mamata Banerjee, who will attend that meeting.
On the sidelines of the internal security meeting, Mr Modi and Mr Patnaik trooped in to meet Ms Jayalalithaa at the Tamil Nadu Bhawan. Sukhbir Singh Badal, Deputy CM of Punjab, who was earlier scheduled to also meet Ms Jayalalithaa, did not turn up finally.
Mr Patnaik was the first to meet the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and the two were closeted for over 25 minutes. After the meeting, Mr Patnaik refused to divulge what transpired at the meeting, merely saying it was a courtesy call as Jayalalithaa is an "old family friend of my father." Soon after, Mr Modi met Ms Jayalalithaa for 40 minutes and refused to speak to the waiting media. Ms Jayalalithaa also did not speak to the media.
The closed-group meetings are being viewed as both, some political muscle-flexing and strategy talk before the May 5 meeting. (
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Each of these chief ministers have written to the Prime Minister, some repeatedly, against the proposed anti-terror body NCTC, saying it steps on the toes of states and as such violates the federal structure that the Indian Constitution provides for. Mamata Banerjee has spearheaded that protest, even arm-twisting the government she partners to promise in Parliament that no further steps will be taken on the NCTC without a thorough discussion with chief ministers. Her absence from the internal security meeting today thus will cause some embarrassment for the Centre.
The NCTC is a pet project of Home Minister P Chidambaram, who has passionately advocated the need for the anti-terror organisation and has sought to allay the fears of 10 Chief Ministers who have been vocal in their opposition by assuring them that the government intends to work with states on battling terrorism