Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Monday slammed the Centre for setting aside detention orders issued by the State government and described the action as encroachment upon the State’s powers.
In her speech, which was read out by the State Municipal Administration Minister K.P. Munusamy, at the 16th meeting of the National Integration Council in New Delhi, she said the State was judicious in the use of Criminal Procedure Code and preventive detention laws to avoid serious incidents of violence.
Of late, there was a noticeable and unwelcome development wherein the Centre, “for ostensibly political considerations had set aside such orders issued by the State government. We consider that this is an unnecessary encroachment upon the State’s powers and will seriously compromise the maintenance of public order.” Ms. Jayalalithaa’s remarks come in the backdrop of the Union Home Ministry revoking detention orders under the National Security Act (NSA) against Pattali Makkal Katchi MLA J. Guru twice. In a recent order, the Madras High Court set aside the Centre’s order revoking his detention.
To prevent untoward incidents, the Chief Minister listed the steps taken by her government including setting up of permanent peace committees in sensitive places, adequate precautionary measures during important festivals and important places of worship and effective use of security proceedings provisions.
The State government would not spare anyone who tried to whip up communal passions and create caste tensions and the police were given a clear mandate to curb such activities with an iron hand. Activities of communal organisations were monitored closely by a Special Wing in the State Intelligence. Inflammatory and provocative speeches, pamphlets, audio and video CDs and other reproductions were acted against promptly. Fundamentalist organisations such as Al Umma and All India Jihad Committee had been banned in the State, she said.
Maintenance of law and order, a fundamental responsibility of the State governments, required functional co-operation and understanding between the Centre and State governments. Of late, the Centre was increasingly taking unilateral steps and creating top-down structures and parallel authorities that encroached upon the constitutional domain of the State government.
“This is an ill-advised and counter-productive approach,” she said.
To tackle the malevolent antisocial forces, Ms. Jayalalithaa said the Centre and the States must effectively share intelligence, information, and resources between them, so that the forces of terrorism, fundamentalism, extremism and communalism were put down effectively.
Expressing her disappointment at the Centre for reducing its share in police modernisation scheme for Tamil Nadu from 75 per cent to 60 per cent, she called for a refurbished national plan for the modernisation of State Police Forces and substantially higher level of financial assistance.
She also urged the Centre to make substantial investment in prevention of cyber crimes and enhance funding for such purposes.
Correction
This copy has been corrected for a factual error
