Accusing the Centre of doublespeak, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said though the UPA government claimed that security was a “shared” responsibility of the Centre and states, it did not bother to consult states when it came to forming laws.
“If you accept the responsibility of State governments then is it not your (Centre’s) duty to consult them before forming laws?” he said, opposing the Centre’s plan to set up a National Counter Terrorism Centre.
Mr. Modi was reacting to Home Minister Chidambaram’s comment that security was a shared responsibility of Centre and the States.
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“In the past few years, the UPA government in Delhi is damaging the federal structure of India and because of this the country may have to face dangerous situations,” he said.
“Their (Centre) latest initiative is that without asking or discussing with any state government, overnight, they have tried to snatch away the responsibility of law and order from the states,” Mr. Modi said.
Mr. Modi said if the central government felt that there idea was the correct one, they could have had an open debate.
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“If they thought their idea is right, they could have kept it in national domain and debated it. They could have brought it as an agenda in Security Council and discussed it,” he said.
The Gujarat Chief Minister claims that without attempting an open debate on the issue, the Centre had tried to form the law through the back door.
“All these backdoor activities which are being done...it is not just one act but many thought-out actions which are an attack on the country’s federal structure,” Mr. Modi said.