Chidambaram abdicating his duties: BJP

BJP on Tuesday joined issue with Home Minister P Chidambaram over his comments that fighting terrorism was more a state responsibility, saying he was abdicating his duties as the menace was spread over ten states and a coordinated effort was required to combat it.

“As long as Chidambaram is on the scene, we will keep hearing of new terminologies everyday. So far no arrest has been made in the Delhi blast case, so how can one even talk of punishing the guilty,” BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said.

The Home Minister had earlier stated at a programme in the capital that fighting terrorism was primarily the responsibility of the states. He maintained that Left wing extremism was more a matter of concern than any other form of terror activity.

BJP was, however, not convinced with Mr. Chidambaram’s arguments and maintained that since terrorism was prevalent in more than one state and had inter-state ramifications, the Centre should be held accountable for dealing with it.

“I want to tell Chidambaram that this is not about responsibility of any one state. There is terrorism in several states. Why is not a unified strategy? More than ten states are involved. He is just advising the Chief Ministers and abdicating his responsibility,” Mr. Javadekar said.

The Rajya Sabha MP described terrorism as a “war against the state”.

In reply to a question on Jammu and Kashmir Assembly mulling over passing a resolution against the death sentence to Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, Mr. Javadekar said terrorism cannot be condoned in one state and punished in another.

“Terrorism is terrorism. Whether it is state A or state B, one cannot differentiate between states or on the basis of religion, region, caste and the like,” he said.