Politics seems to have hit the Centre’s attempt to fight terrorism in the country. The Opposition parties on Friday rallied behind UPA ally Trinamul Congress in opposing the government’s proposal to set up the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC).
The Opposition parties and the Trinamul opposed Union home minister P. Chidambaram’s pet project, NCTC, on the ground that it was against the federal structure and would usurp the power of the states. Trinamul supremo Mamata Banerjee is likely to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh next to discuss various issues, including NCTC.
The government, however, has rejected the Opposition charges and is in no mood to succumb to Trinamul pressure. The government made it clear that the NCTC “will be operational from March 1”.
Union home secretary R.K. Singh said “there was no need to consult the states prior to notifying the NCTC as it has been formed under the existing Unla-wful Activities (Preven-tion) Act, which has been in force for several years and under which the security agencies have been operating”. MoS in the PMO V. Narayanswamy, however, said the PM and the home minister “will address the concern being raised by our allies”.
Reacting to Opposition charges that the act was “draconian”, the Congress said, “There were several partners in the NDA government when draconian laws (Pota in 2002) were passed. A lot of these people were associated when these draconian laws were framed,” party spokesperson Renuka Chowdhury said. The home secretary added: “NCTC is being formed for better coordination among agencies to fight terror. The sections which have been quoted have been on the statute books for the past six-seven years. It is not any new provision of law. There should not be any controversy.”
On the pretext of opposing the NCTC, an effort is being made by the Trinamul and Naveen Patnaik-led BJD to create a non-Congress, non-BJP platform. Apart from the CMs of the BJP-ruled states — Narendra Modi (Gujarat), Shivraj Singh Chauhan (Madhya Prade-sh) and Prem Kumar Dhu-mal (Himachal Pradesh) — the regional outfits that have joined the Trinamul-BJD in opposing the NCTC are the AIADMK, TDP and JD(U). Sources said that with an eye on the 2014 general elections, the regional outfits are looking at the option of coming under a common platform along the lines of a third front.