The Centre's ambitious plan to create a National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC) appears to have run into rough weather with several non-Congress Chief Ministers attacking the move on the ground that it “infringes upon the powers and rights of State governments.”
Nine Chief Ministers and a former Chief Minister have opposed the NCTC.
It is the criticism of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee that has hurt the UPA government most.
Ms. Banerjee and her Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik, in separate letters to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, urged him to “review and withdraw” the February 3, 2012 order notifying the NCTC. They say the Centre's counter-terror blueprint violates principles of federalism and encroaches upon the turf of the States.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa also shared the concern of other non-Congress Chief Ministers, saying the proposed anti-terror body suffered from “deficiencies” and includes provisions that tantamount to usurping the legitimate rights of the States.
Expressing concern that the NCTC would infringe on the federal rights of the States, Ms. Banerjee said: “It is difficult for the State government to accept such arbitrary exercise of power by the Central government/Central agencies, which have a bearing on the rights and privileges of the State as enshrined in the Constitution.”
Ms. Banerjee's letter was released by Mr. Patnaik's office in Bhubaneswar.
Mr. Patnaik said the UPA government was issuing “authoritarian orders” without consulting the States.
Asking the Prime Minister to review the order which had “draconian overtones,” Mr. Patnaik said the people were aware of their democratic and federal rights, which, at times, had to be underlined by the State governments to the Union government.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi said that in the name of fighting terrorism and Naxalism, the Centre was out to violate the federal structure of the country.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan termed the notification a serious setback to the nation's federal structure.
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said the move was another attempt to usurp the powers of the States.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar also opposed the Centre's move.
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said it was a measure to usurp whatever was left of the States' authority in governance.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh opposed the Centre's notification calling it a “serious setback to the federal structure of the country.”
The former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and Telugu Desam Party chief, N. Chandrababu Naidu, in a letter to the Prime Minister on Friday, requested him to withdraw the order and initiate debate with political parties and State governments along with a discussion in Parliament on this “vital issue affecting Centre-State relations.”
Amid the developments, Union Home Secretary R.K. Singh defended the government move, saying the counter-terror body was in national interest. It was being established under the existing Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), which had been in force for the past many years.
“The NCTC is being formed for better coordination among agencies to fight terror better. We are not passing any new legislation. The Sections which have been quoted have been on the statute for the past six or seven years. It is not any new provisions of law or anything like that. There should not be any controversy,” he said. Congress spokesperson Renuka Chowdhary said there could be no compromise in fighting terror.
BJP spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy said the way the NCTC was being set up showed that several States had no confidence in the Centre.
Counter-terror expert B. Raman said the NCTC, set up in the U.S. after 9/11, had no powers to arrest, interrogate, investigate and prosecute. Till now, in India, these powers belonged to only the NIA and the CBI and State police forces.
“By giving these powers to the NCTC, we are going to create confusion in the investigation and prosecution of terror-related cases.”
Mr. Raman termed the move an “unwise step” that could further politicise the handling of counter-terrorism.
The NCTC will become functional from March 1.
Keywords: NCTC, counter terror body, Centre-state relations
@ Vira ...There were so many comments here. your one line comment was different..'Fighting for rights should not be included in terror'. Good one. Unfortunately we live in India, where every law, state or central is always misued. Better to keep in mind, WE ARE RULED BY POLITICIANS AND NOT BY A SYSTEM OR A RULE OF LAW!
The opposing CMs must have same guts to save the common man of the States concerned from terrorism/robbery/daylight murder etc. and protect the citizen to live peacefully. Instead of giving full protection to common man, accusing each other in the name of federalism with political color will not help our States/Country to curb terrorism. There is need to enact Law in line with RTI/RTE -"Right to Protection of Common Man to live peacefully" This is the need of the hour!
Manmohan Singh thinks that he has proved himself learned by just copying a few names and terminology from the US sites, does he know an iota of what governance is? These leave leave some baloons in the air which never seem to reach a fruitful culmination.
As per Manmohan Singh's strategy, Montek deserves to be appointed the Director of NCTC as well planning commission Dy Chair (money minting machinery).
Manmohan has terrorism grooming right under his belt , the exercise seems to fotify that structure right under his belt and give the supercop " I want U" power against the opposers. Manmohan thinks that he has proved himself learned by just copying few names and terminology from the US sites , does Manmohan know an iota of what governance is ? These government paid jokers leave some baloons in the air which never seem to reach a fruitful culmination. As per Manmohan's strategy Montek deserves to be appointed the Director of NCTC as well planning commission Dy Chair ( money minting machinery) .
It's become a habit for Mamata, Jaya & co to oppose whatever centre does.
Ask the CM's who oppose, do their states have a machinery, infrastructure and investment to function as effectively as a centralized agency? These politicians want to have all the power to themselves so they can bully their political rivals and keep the state police under their feet.
These petty state politicians with only their own personal agenda's in mind, they will only harm the Federal Structure of India and not the NCTC.
Only independed CMs can oppose the NCTC as is detrimental to Federal structure of India. All other High command appoited CMs dont have need to speak for strong federal structure. If India to be united there should be people appointed CM not Highcommand in turn they cannot care unity of india and show loyalty to their leaders. These CMs show courage and raised voice against Centre Govt
As usual the UPA II are cowards and hence being pushed around.
They should tell the States that in case they can not stop terror
attacks their governments will be dismissed and President's rule
imposed for lack of law and order
Nothing will be gained by 'fault finding' and airing differences in the manner that is going on. The central and State Authorities must come together, go thoroughy into all aspects of the proposal which is obviouly intended to counter the evils of terrorism and male our Country a safer place to line in. If there really are clauses that need to be modified then suitable steps should be taken to amend it... then every citizen must welcome it.
Every Federalist must be a Nationalist first. States make up the Nation and All must accept that which is for the good of All........
What is harm if NCTC start to work, ofcourse it is a security agency to meet with internal and external terroring conspiracies, non consgress chief minister should not have to play thier politics in such a national security issue.
It is a bit difficult to fathom the logic behind the arguments of Ms.
Banerjee and the others. The states have, more often than not, failed
to fight terror in India. It has been due to the failure of the state
governments (case in point, Maharashtra, Delhi, Karnataka), that
terrorists have been successful in repeatedly orchestrating attacks.
On all occasions, the preparedness of the state police has been found
wanting. So, if they cannot do the job, it should augur well, if they
get out of the way and let specialists take over, for at least that
seems to be the idea with the NCTC. I do not think the idea of NCTC
would have cropped up had the state govts done their job.
Fighting for rights should not be included in terror ...
It must be bring to the notice that all the states which are opposing NCTC are the most sufferes of terrorism and extremism whether it is west bengal or chattisgarh and mostly all these states are having leadership of opposition party,Such type of arrogance never favors for a nation.Similar arrogance was witnesed by the government in the case of FDI in retail.All such parties only consider this as a political agenda.So it is the high time to support such kind of act to counter terrorism.
Indian Penal Code is good enough to hang people like Afzal or Kashav. Before the General Election this law will be enforced to incarcerate the Strong Opposition. Neither. Indians don't need any constitution amendment to fulfull the whimsical political ambition of the ruling congress party. What happened to the Black Money Stashed in Foreign Banks by the Ministers, M.P.'s and election contributors.
What is the use of creating a new agency? Why not upgrade the present agencies and give them more teeth? Also, the Central Government should be more consultative and keep everyone in the loop on matters as important as national security. It is expected that it holds a discussion with the State Governments and also in the Parliament.
It shall not be construed that the UPA government has got some mal intensions to infringe up on the prerogatives of the state government. It is a well known fact that the nation need to exercise more vigil to compact terrorism. The apprehension of misuse in the light of old TADA need not be brushed aside. Even if this issue is in State list, absolutely no reason why Centre can’t intervene as long as it has got a strong bearing on national security. Rather than rejecting the move, more fine tuning is required. Let the State government come with core areas where they feel there are vulnerable spots. Let them make it viable with in their reach. At any cost the move should be given a green signal to move ahead with out subjecting it to get entangled in centre-sate relations. To the least State Government should come up with such a monitoring cell under the guidance of Intelligence bureau in every state.
In isolation the move to setup NCTC is a good move. In the context of what's happening in India, this move should have followed extensive consultations with the state govts. The incumbent Govt at the centre does not inspire confidence in the citizens that the NCTC will be used for the objectives for which it's claimed to be setup. If the witch hunting by NIA and CBI are any indication, this will divert the scarce resources to the abuse of power to implicate the opposition politicians and "inconvenient" social organizations in the incidences terror rather than seek to reach the root of the problem. The non- Congress parties such as TMC and BJD have shows a great statesmanship in oppising the NCTC. The "secular" media is bound to portray them in the negative light, hence they have to independently reach out to people to explain why they are opposing NCTC.
The issue at the core is Central govt making institutions of handling anti-terrorism as their tool to politicize the matter and to create a wave among the masses that it is Hindu terrorism which endangers the country rather than cross border terrorism.
A central govt. definitely should think upon this,Creating another
investigation body is not needed when we have NIA and CBI forces ready
to tackle the issue and the working squad of ATS is also doing fine.
Having so much opposition from almost all the states, congress certainly
loosing all others party's faith. UPA govt. have not yet learned from
their past mistakes and continue to do the things which people not
liking at all.
All people can't be satisfied by one law. It is not that this law is against federalism or fringes in state power. These are only arguments of arrogance . Utopia is only a myth. Reality is very different . One party 's conflicts to other parties, be they personal or political, they'll come under the way of any suggestion or any law.
The reaction of 9 Chief Ministers is only a symptom of the malaise,not the malaise itself. The UPA in general and the Congress in particular has brought our polity to a stage where no one is prepared to believe what the other says. NCTC may be a good idea and the need of the hour to fight the terrorist menace, but the track record of the Congress does not inspire confidence. The misuse of the CBI,the Governor's office, recently denigrating the CAG and CEC by Congress ministers make every action of this Govt suspect. The Regime must realize that it is doing a great disservice to the polity by creating conditions in which even urgently required measures are looked at with suspicion. A climate of trust has to be created and confrontationist postures have to be given up.
Actually the problem is that nobody is shouting on promotion of NCTC, almost all MAOIST affected states opposed it. The conclusion can drawn that same states have been threatened by Maoist. Another effect may cause confusion between other authorized official because nobody wants other involvement in their project.But if the project is not been completed at time then their is need of another body.
This may have adverse effect on peoples' personal life but for whom who are related to Maoist or terrorist because this wants evidence. since the organization have arrest or prosecute any case so its clear that they going to help authorized officials. So according to me this should be bring in effect with all it consideration.
with the advent of information technology world is coming closure
so the boundries of india are going to shrink in this scenerio states
power is bound to dcline. they should not complaint
I am not thorough with the contents of NCTC, what ever, the cry against by most states is for the 'rights of the states'. As a common man I am confused, question of the rights of the states comes first or the security of the nation? What rights are they talking about? The security of the Country as a whole is the responsibility of the centre, objecting and questioning every move of the centre for Political mileage also amounts to a violation or questioning the 'federal structure of the country'. which the states should keep in mind. As a citizen of India I would want the centre to go forward with its decesion and not to yield to the pressures of the Politicians. Shame on these Politicians, who are ready to sacrifice even their country for their personal political gains! Such Politicians are more dangerous than Terrorists!
All the clever steps taken to eradicate the communalism and terrorism by the UPA II like creation of NIA and NCTC agencies will boomerang once the BJP is in power. The nation is suffering from all the evils of CBI product like Dr. R.K. Raghvan ex- Director during NDA regime for his shoddy and blikered and botched up investigations by the agency till today. These agencies will be the safe heaven for Hindu Terrorism in future and life source for committing atrocities upon the Muslim youth.
The Central Government may be 'flying a tentative kite', just to
know the reaction of opinion leaders and the States.Terrorism has to
be fought; fought tooth and nail; that is the bottom line. How? is
the question. One is sure that keeping the potential danger in view, a
modus vivendi will be found;It has to be found so that the States do
not feel that federalism is in jeopardy. Since the States are equally
concerned about terrorism, they should pitch in and not be adamant and
obstructive but give the proposal a big heave.
How can there be a threat to federal structure? It is a centre for investigation for counter terrorism just like CBI. Clashes between state police on apprehending and release of terror suspects can be avoided. Just politics!
These politicians who are opposing any meaningful measure to curb terrorism are clearly 'Hand-in-Glove' with the terrorists. They must be - because the terrorits are funding these same political parties. Clearly, when next terrorist attack that happens in this country, these same politicians will have to take the blame and will have blood on their hands.
Terrorism is too serious a problem to play politics with using the bogey of "infringment on State Govt.'s Power". They need to look at this as a National issue without polarising the debate as State vs Centre - or is too much to ask from these "leaders" ?
The Congress Government at the Centre is usurping one more power from the states. Powers which were on the States' list are slowly getting into Concurrent Lists, without any amendments to the Constitution. True federal structure, power to the people till the local panchaayat level are the need of the hour, for Indians to truly enjoy the fruits of freedom. Consolidating the power at the centre will only lead to more autocratic government, insensitive to the people's concerns. Congress Government at the centre should stop such power grabs.
Fear is the greatest weapon that the Capitalist try to capitalize on and is also a tool used by shameless nationalist to counter any dissent in democracy. This great tool can be used to suppress minority (be it religious or ideological) and rein more power to the elected elite! What a shame? A democracy called India? It exists only in paper. I am actually not angry with the politicians...it is the self centered middle class, consumerist urban class, the archaic education system and attitude is what angers me more.
So Jayalalitha says that the power to seize by the Center can be misused. What relief is there when she routinely misuses that power?
Politicians are from being patriotic and just hanker for power. Of course they do it for various reasons but mainly to help in corruption. This agency should be totally independent and not under the Centre.With the kind of Home Minister we have this will certainly be misused against the parties governing in the States.
From the way things are moving the balkanisation of the country is not far away. China and Pakistan will be waiting for a chance to colonise the country. Today 9 CMs gang up against the Centre, tomorrow a similar set of CMs may gang up along with our enemy country. India is not fit for federalism as the old concept of Maharajas and Maharanis ruling independent states is yet rampant in our country. We should have only one Central Government, all state governments must be abolished. The country should be divided into geographical divisions administered by bureaucrats.This will put an end to all this confused way of governance in the country.
It is such a shame that even on issues of national security political parties can't stop playing petty politics. Yes, law and order is a state subject in general, but well organized terrorism in not an ordinary law and order challenge. It is much more serious than that. When countries across continents have stepped up cooperation with one another to fight terror why are these politicians so selfish? An integrated and all-encompassing approach is needed to launch an unforgiving offensive against terrorists and supporters. It is a welcome sign. BJP has to be mature enough to understand that how politically motivated blind opposition to Indo-US nucleaer deal cost them last general elections. It is a step in the right direction and we must appreciate it. Enough of rights now it is time to do duty.Democracy or secularism will survive only if India survives as those who want to destroy it want neither democracy nor secularism.
The need of the hour is astrong unified force for fighting terrorism in its various forms. when the crime spreads across various states ,a single state cannot control it alone,then a lack of central command becomes apparent.
Speaking with historical references to POTA and other terrorism preventing laws, the conclusion can easily be drawn that the Govt is always misusing the laws for its own gain or for carrying out proxy attacks on the opposition parties. This can easily be seen when the Intelligence agencies have been instructed by the Home Ministry to keep tabs of certain ministers through telecommunication snooping equipments. The Govt as usual plays with the life of its own citizens by trying to implement crazy laws. If LokPal can be feared by everyone in the parliament, we the citizens have all the right to be feared of sweeping powers of this new institution the center is trying to actually.
When there is a terror attack these ministers blame the centre for
inaction,when they work hard to bring something fruitful on the
table,they oppose. center should not give in to these opposition ,in
the interest of national security
I think it is a good idea and as a true Indian, I support for it.State politican nothing to do with it, they just look after their own people .National security is a center Govt responsibility doesn't matter which party rules.Days go by we are faceing terrerism in the extreme levels. so we have to counter it.Mr. prime minister go ahead with your plan.Thank you.
I am sorry. I disagree with the opinion writers. The Indian Constitution, as is written, is with a purpose. If the Union Govt. wants to protect us against terrorism, it can very well set up a structure to aid the States. We have Union Rice Research Institute to help the States with Agriculture and nobody is complaining. Same with CBI which has one of the worlds best crime detection resources both manpower and hardware which the States use - no complaints here too!! The solution exists with the Federal Nature of the Constitution. Let us not subvert it!
Pathetic politics!!NCTC would be the milestone for India in fight against terror but here i can see states i can see CMs but not India. State comes before India they're talking about ' federal rights' to hell with the federal rights......go and see the functioning of FBI!! for this I AM STRONGLY IN SUPPORT OF GOI!
NCTC is on the lines of DHS of the USA,which is a Police State now.Janet Neapolitano and Leon Paneta have met with Chidmabram very recently[2011].What is the Secretary For Homeland Security of the USA doing in India with Chidambaram?Surveillance,Loss Of Privacy and Freedom! The War On Terror is a False Flag and the REAL Terrorists are the Spy Agencies.Following the same reasoning,DHS and NCTC are the REAL TERRORISTS. The efforts to usurp the Powers of the Sates by the Indira congress party misusing the proposed, Communal Violence Bill,Food Security Bill etc does not augur well for India.
Does anyone understand why the central government introduced the formation of NCTC when the same functions can be carried out under Unlawful Activities Act as claimed by the Home secretary. Also it is not clear why several chief ministers oppose NCTC saying the formation of NCTC is against federalism. Both central and state governments should explain in detail the pros and cons of NCTC in leading newspapers. This is a political issue raised by several chief ministers and timely response from finance minister is to be appreciated.
As usual the UPA transgresses on everything that the constitution holds dear. @Bharat: Nobody denies the necessity to fight terrorism. But, no law incl. the constitution can be retracted or upheld whensoever one feels it is right. India is not a state or a nation but a federal union, so State governments always retain greater autonomy than the central government and when parties like UPA come to power thinking otherwise, the whole point of our system of democracy and government is defeated.
Instead of getting together and establishing a strong force against the enimes of our country, these people are playing with us. They do not understand the loss of loved ones as common person dies. They will sit and make a statement. I think soon there will be revolt like in Egypt, Sirya etc in our country also. People are sick and tired of politicians.
Hmmm... it seems the lives of the innocent civilians is less important that the political machinations of the parties (Centre/State). An integrated mechanism to track terror could be easily justified by the pan-Indian nature of these terror networks. However, the apprehensions of the States Governments could only be justified if these apprehensions are based on the control of these national agencies by the party at the center. It would be more logical for the state governments to demand that these agencies are to be made ACCOUNTABLE and ANSWERABLE to the PARLIAMENT and NOT TO THE PARTY in power at the CENTER...WILL PEOPLE TEACH THESE POLITICIANS A LESSON OR WOULD THEY CONTINUE TO BE FOOLS?
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