Despite a day long meeting with appeals from the Prime Minister and Home Minister, the Chief Ministers of most large states opposed the creation of the National Counter Terrorism Centre. Here’s in brief are the quotable quotes from them:
J Jayalalithaa, Chief Minister, Tamil Nadu
The NCTC, as has now been notified, should be kept in abeyance, as already advocated by me in my letter to the Hon’ble Prime Minister earlier, till the sub-committee of chief ministers gives its report,” she said.
As a matter of fact, any discussion on NCTC is infructuous as long as the notification of NCTC is in force
We are proactive and prevent such occurrences. Instead of encouraging us and providing liberal financial assistance, the Ministry of Home Affairs wants to belittle us and treat us like pawns on a chessboard, who can be moved around at will.
Does the Ministry of Home Affairs feel that their officials are more capable and more virtuous than the police personnel in the states? Does it feel that the Intelligence Bureau is more trustworthy than the Research and Analysis Wing or the Directorate General of Military Intelligence? Does it
feel that state governments cannot be trusted with certain confidential information?
Narendra Modi, Chief Minister, Gujarat
Be it proposed amendments to the Railway Protection Act, the Border Security Force Act, and the Limited competitive Examination issue and so on, the Union Government has behaved in a manner which reminds us of Viceroys of yore.
Come to terms with current political realities and change the mindset of seeking to capture political space through devious executive mechanisms.
It is observed that whenever a serious incident takes place in any state, considering the party in power in that state, different statements are issued. Often it is said that the state government was warned of the ensuing event or sometimes it is stated that it is the responsibility of the state government to deal with the situation
Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister, Bihar
One does not have to go far back in history to recall that eminent political leaders were branded as threats to national security and were put behind bars during the emergency of 1975-77. I am disturbed to see the sacrosanct principle of federalism being violated in course of Centre’s anti-terrorism onslaught. The order issued to set up NCTC also suffers from several legal and procedural defects.
In the present scheme of things, a body created by the executive instruction of GoI is sought to be clothed with legal powers which have the potential of impinging upon the life and liberty of citizens of this country, which is normally done only by agencies created by legislative action and answerable to the court.
What is the need, then, to create new outfits like NCTC with provisions which arbitrarily trample upon Constitutional safeguards to protect the highly delicate balance of power between the Centre and the States?
Further, any such outfit, if it has to be created at all, must be set up through legislation by Parliament. Another feasible option would be empowerment of NIA to arrest as well as investigate all terror related cases.
Akhilesh Yadav, Chief Minister, Uttar Pradesh
It is necessary for any operational action that state government remains informed and it is conducted with advice and active support of the local police and it has the required experience for such situation.
I demand a rethink on the proposed system. As of now, NCTC can undertake any operation in a state without informing the state government using special forces like the NSG. Such provisions can lead to confusing situation in issues related to law and order. The possibility of its misuse cannot be
ruled out.
Raman Singh, Chief Minister, Chhattisgarh
We have made certain suggestions for amendment in the NCTC. All the three powers – intelligence gathering, operations and full control over the civil services – by NCTC cannot be accepted. If NCTC is suitably amended, we can agree to support it.
Speaking about a national hostage policy being needed,”There should be a consensus that we will not negotiate who ever the hostage is. Be it an officer, a minister or even the Chief Minister.”
Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister, Odisha
I do appreciate that there is a need for an organisation at the central level to tackle terrorism and left wing extremism. However, the NCTC in its present form is simply not acceptable.
Firstly, such an organisation should not be part of a secret intelligence agency, the IB. No other democratic country has given such wide ranging powers to their secret intelligence agencies as has been envisaged in the case of the NCTC. The job of an intelligence agency is to collect intelligence only. Therefore, the NCTC should not be a part of the IB. It can be with a separate agency like the National
Investigation Agency (NIA).
I do hope that the government of India will respect the concerns of the states while finalising the creation of the NCTC. The creation of the Republic of India in its present form is a result of years of sacrifice and hard work by the founding fathers of our nation.
Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Chief Minister, Madhya PradeshShivraj Singh Chouhan
I do not consider the provisions for creation of NCTC to be in accordance with the federal structure enshrined in our Constitution.
On one side, government of India emphasises on coordination among state and central security agencies and on other hand, state authorities are overlooked in deciding counter terror policies. Continuous neglect of state agencies in this direction shows the growing tendency of centralisation..no consultation was done with state agencies in amendment of UAPA in 2008 or while creating the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Order on NCTC is another step taken in this sequence. Proposed amendments in BSF and RPF Act are also an example of attempts of centralisation of police powers by centre.
N Kiran Kumar Reddy, Chief Minister, Andhra Pradesh
NCTC will act as a repository of all information relating to terrorism including the data pertaining to the incidents of terrorist violence. It is expected to provide a common platform for integrating, analysing and sharing all intelligence pertaining to counter terrorism.
Ashok Gehlot, Chief Minister, Rajasthan
I fail to understand how any of NCTC’s functions would trample upon the already existing powers of the states… creation of the NCTC is the need of the hour.
The apprehension that NCTC will adversely affect the federal structure and the Centre will become stronger at the cost of states needs to be shunned. In fact, such thoughts will never come to mind if we uphold the unity and integrity of nation as our primary concern.
