As the Congress on Sunday raked up a “Gujarat-origin” multi-crore heroin seizure by the Australian Coalition Maritime Forces off the coast of Kenya in April to question Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s track record on security, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hit back by pointing out that maritime security is essentially a central subject.
The penultimate day of the nine-phase elections saw the two parties trade charges on national security. Firing the first salvo for the Congress, Abhishek Singhvi said Gujarat – which has one the longest coastlines in India and the districts of Kutch and Jamnagar share their borders with Pakistan – has been totally lax on the issue of coastal security.
He cited a 2009-vintage report of the Comptroller & Auditor General which indicted the Gujarat government for “ignoring coastal security despite funds provided by the Central Government for ‘Global Positioning System, Automatic Vehicle Locator System etc.’’
Detailing the heroin seizure, he said it was worth Rs. 1,600 crore and the dhow Laxmi Narain had been chartered to Jamnagar-based Haza Bhai Kathiriya whose two brothers are active in the BJP. One of them, Haji Abdul Karim Kungda, has been elected a member of the Salaya municipality in Gujarat on the BJP symbol.
First taking a dig at the Congress for not mending its ways even in the face of imminent defeat, BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi described the Congress charge as yet another diversionary tactic. Indicating a Pakistani link to the heroin seizure and citing a media report of a Pakistani national being among the dozen people arrested in the case, she said: “The Congress is protecting Pakistan while denigrating the State of Gujarat. This is sinister politics.’’
Stating that coastal security and internal security had been ignored by the United Progressive Alliance, she pointed out that smuggling essentially had to be dealt with central agencies and the role of State governments was minimal. Also, according to her, the Centre had not responded to a November 2013 request from Gujarat for the setting up of a Maritime Immigration Checkpost in the State nor made any effort to beef up security at the 43 major and non-major ports there.
