Differences between home minister P. Chidambaram and Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi surfaced during the chief ministers’ meet on internal security on Tuesday. While the Gujarat CM attacked the Centre for the increase in the killing of civilians by Maoists, terming it a “failure” of the government, the home minister countered the charge by saying that “Gujarat has no idea of the seriousness of the Naxal problem.”
Speaking on the sidelines of the conference, Mr Modi said the rising civilian casualties at the hands of Maoists, as pointed out by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, is a failure of the government. Mr Chidambaram refuted the charge saying, “I don’t think it is fair to say that the situation has worsened in the Naxal-affected states. As I said in my opening remarks, it’s a kind of stalemate. Now without being partisan, I am surprised that someone has said the situation has worsened.” Mr Modi led the Opposition attack when he chided the CBI for “singling out his state, castigating the state’s law-and-order situation and making observation about highly communalised atmosphere.” Citing the Centre’s pending nod for the state’s anti-terror law GUJCOC, Mr Modi alleged that several such suggestions made by chief ministers during previous conferences on internal security were pending. He also accused the Centre of adopting “double standards” on the black money issue.
“The agenda paper of the meeting referred to loss related to money laundering but whenever there is a question of bringing black money back from abroad they term it as tax evasion cases. Mr Chidambaram said that the matter was not part of the agenda for the conference. Mr Modi also criticised a letter by the home minister which asked the states to stop procurement of arms from Austria and Germany after they refused to supply arms to India.
The other BJP-ruled states including, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand also slammed the Centre for its policies on improving security. Countering the Opposition’s move, the chief ministers of states governed by Congress expressed anguish over rise in cases of religious extremism. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar criticised the Union government’s proposed police reform policy suggesting appointment and fixing of the tenure of a state police chief in the “guise of police reforms”.
Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan charged the Centre for not responding to the state’s demand to include seven districts affected by naxalism in the SRE scheme. Uttarakhand cm Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank also blamed the Centre for not including all its border districts under BADP. Surprisingly, Congress-ruled Mizoram CM Lal Thanhawala charged the Centre with meting out injustice to his state by ?depriving funds” under security-related expenditure. Tamil Nadu CM M. Karunanidhi urged that the Centre should press Sri Lanka to abide by the Indo-Sri Lanka accord of 2008 and desist from attacking Indian fishermen who stray into their waters.
***
Buddha skips conference
AGE CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI
Feb. 1: West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee skipped the chief ministers’ conference on internal security convened by the home ministry on Tuesday even as his state demanded additional Central forces to fight the growing Naxal menace in the state. The move comes despite the home ministry recently expressing concern over the usage of Central forces in the backdrop of “armed camps” fighting the Maoists in the Marixt-ruled state. Bengal health minister Surya Kanta Mishra represented the West Bengal CM.