With the rift between the UPA and its ally Trinamul Congress widening, West Bengal chief minister and Trinamul supremo Mamata Banerjee on Saturday skipped the inauguration by Union home minister P. Chidambaram of an NSG hub at Badu, 50 km from Kolkata.
On Saturday another UPA ally, the National Conference, demanded clarity in the setting up of the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC). The chief ministers of other BJP-ruled states — including Karnataka CM Sadananda Gowda and Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh — joined hands with their political friends to oppose the NCTC. The CM of Congress-ruled Haryana, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, however, backed the proposal, saying “terrorism can be contained only with combined efforts throughout the country”.
Ms Banerjee has joined hands with more than half-a-dozen non-Congress and BJP-ruled states to oppose the setting up of the NCTC by the ministry of home affairs (MHA), claiming it would be an infringement of the states’ federal rights.
However, a day after adhering to its stance of going ahead with the NCTC, the MHA adopted a cautious approach on operationalising the NCTC from March 1. Top government sources said the NCTC “cannot be fully operational immediately as it will only be appointing a core team of four people next month” — the NCTC director and three joint directors. After this, the MHA will revert to the Cabinet Committee on Security for expansion of the team.
Home secretary R.K. Singh said, “It is the duty of the Central government to deal with terrorists and to coordinate with the states to tackle the terrorists. If all states work independently, and if there is no coordination, can we win this fight?.” He once again reminded the states that the government order makes it clear the NCTC will derive its powers from the UAPA.
NC president and Union minister Farooq Abdullah said, “In that (matters related to the country’s security) nothing should be done which will infringe on the federal structure.” The CPI also opposed the NCTC while the CPI(M) stayed silent. The CPI said it “vehemently opposes” tendencies to usurp the powers of the state and urged “all democratic forces” to stand up “in defence of federalism”.