With its back against the wall after the recent bomb blasts in Hyderabad, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government has brought the controversial National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) proposal back into the spotlight. Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde today claimed West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee was now agreeable to the proposal. West Bengal was one among several states which had vociferously opposed the setting up of the Centre.
Shinde, on a two-day visit to West Bengal, said today, "I had talked to her (Mamata Banerjee) earlier also on the NCTC issue. She has a positive mind." In his reply to a discussion in Parliament last week on the bomb blasts in Hyderabad, Shinde had argued for the need to set up the anti-terror organisation. The UPA, it now appears, has renewed efforts to build a consensus on the issue.
The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said while there was "no possible objection to the NCTC, its powers should be within the constitutional framework."
BJP leaders, along with members of the National Democratic Alliance, have been arguing the NCTC must not curtail the rights of the states because maintaining law and order was the responsibility of state governments.
"Public order and police fall within the domain of the states. The fight against terrorism can and must co-exist with federalism. It would be meaningless to debate an imaginary federalism versus terrorism issue. Why does the central government need to give police powers to the NCTC which would otherwise be under the domain of the National Investigative Agency or the state police?," Arun Jaitley, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, questioned in an article.
"State governments are rightly objecting to it (NCTC). Why should the central government not trust the states? In operational functions, the NCTC can always coordinate its activities with the state police," said Jaitley.
The BJP has also accused the UPA of being "casual" in its approach to tackling terrorism.
