Live: Chidambaram slams Modi over his claims on internal security

1:15 pm:  Chidambaram slams Modi The former Home Minister and present Finance Minister has taken the battle to Modi over his criticism of the Centre. When asked about the Gujarat Chief Minister’s demand for a white paper on security, Chidambaram responded,“There is a monthly account of what the Home Ministry is doing. That is one half of the white paper Modi is asking for.” He took strong exception to the Gujarat Chief Minister’s comment on the Centre not bringing an anti-terorrism law saying that Modi should just say that he wanted the repealed Prevention of Terrorism Act to be brought back. “Modi is asking for anti-terror law instead of anti-match-fixing. Why doesn’t he just say he wants POTA and TADA too?” a caustic Chidambaram said.

 He said that the BJP had pressed for provisions of POTA to have been introduced in another law and the Congress would continue to oppose any such plan.

“The BJP can candidly say they want POTA back and we will candidly oppose it,” Chidambaram said.

The former Home Minister also pointed out that the Gujarat chief minister had originally opposed the creation of a Multi-Agency Centre but has since taken to praising it.

Chidambaram said he took strong exception to the manner in which the BJP had criticised the CBI over its investigation into the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case.

He said that the Gujarat Chief Minister may be flaunting his victory in the bypolls in the state but questioned the candidates that had been fielded.

Chidambaram said that former Congress legislator Vitthal Radadiya was a defector to the BJP, who had been caught wielding a gun and was facing multiple corruption cases.

The only question on our mind through the entire battle of words was: Where is the current Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde?

1:05 pm: Chidambaram says NCTC is essential or country will pay price The former Home Minister has made a strong case for the formation of the National Counter Terrorism Centre saying that Chief Ministers views would be taken on board but it was essential that they gave their assent to the formation of the agency. “If this form of NCTC is opposed then the country will pay the price from time to time,” Chidambaram said.

 “To oppose the NCTC I think is wrong,” he said.

Chidambaram said that the seriousness the government had planned to give the NCTC was lost due to the opposition by Chief Ministers.

12:45 pm: Modi slams Centre over security policies The Gujarat Chief Minister has continued his attack on the Centre and said that it has done too little to tackle terrorism. “What did the Central govt do for the last 10 years on internal security? I asked PM to present a White Paper,” Modi said

 The chief minister accused the Centre of calling meetings and discussions and nothing happening beyond that, he said.“At today’s meeting I said there should be a strong message that the country is with Raman Singh’s govt to tackle Naxals,” Modi said.He also criticised the formation of new investigating agencies.

“You cannot tackle terrorism by creating new agencies.. you are demoralising the other agencies,” Modi said.

11:00 am: Modi, Nitish slam Centre over security plans On expected lines, the Gujarat Chief Minister has taken on the Centre and has criticised it over its efforts over tackling terrorism. “There is a law on match fixing but no law against terrorism,” Modi has told the Chief Ministers conference reported Times Now.  Nitish Kumar has also criticised the centre but for a different reason. The Bihar Chief Minister has urged the Centre to strengthen the NIA instead of going ahead with the NCTC plan, the channel reported. And this despite the Centre reportedly watering down the NCTC and taking out some contentious clauses. 10: 35 am: PM says Centre and states need to work together despite ideological, political differences Singh urged the Chief Ministers to come up with suggestions on how the Centre and states could co-ordinate better when it came to internal security. He also urged for all the Chief Ministers to come together and come up with ways to tackle terrorism, irrespective of their ideological and political backgrounds. “I would appeal to all political parties and all sections of society to work together to end the menace (of terrorism),” the Prime Minister said. And now the Chief Ministers begin their discussions on various topics, but unfortunately the media isn’t allowed to be present for that. 10:30 am: Communal violence has risen and needs to be tackled, says PM [caption id=“attachment_843215” align=“alignright” width=“380”]  PTI[/caption] The Prime Minister listed the measures that had been taken in the northeastern states to tackle insurgent movements and said they would continue to engage with groups that give up violence. He listed two topics of high importance that needed to be dealt with firmly by the states. “The increase is the number of communal and sectarian violence in 2012 as compared to the previous year,” he said, adding that communal harmony was important to the nation. We need to address the needs of minorities and weaker sections of society, the Prime Minister said. Singh said that the government had also brought out tougher laws to tackle crimes against women. “We need to put in place institutional mechanisms to ensure the security of women and children, particularly in the urban context,” he said, adding that sensitisation of police forces was an important factor. 10:25: PM says people in Maoism affected regions should live in peace and security “The two pronged strategy we have pursued needs to be stretched and strengthened further,” he said. The Prime Minister said that while tackling Maoism the people who live in affected areas should be able to live in peace, security and getting the benefits of development schemes. Even the PM seems to have singled out the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir and said that 2012 was a good year for the state. “The record inflow of tourists in 2012 points to an improved security situation in the state,” he said. Whether the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has managed to break into a smile with all this praise isn’t clear. 10:20 am: Naxal violence has no place in our democracy, says PM The Prime Minister seems to be focussing entirely on the Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh. “Such violence has no place in our democracy. The Centre and the states need to join hands to ensure such incidents do not recur,” Singh said, urging CMs to come up with some new suggestions to deal with Naxalism. He said that Naxalism had received the Centre’s attention for some time now, and they had a two-pronged strategy involving developmental measures and strikes to take on the Maoists. 10: 17 am: Shinde says they will back states in tackling terrorism “India continues to face the problem of state sponsored counterfeiting,” Shinde said. He blamed the production on units in neighbouring countries and said they were being made using sophisticated methods. “We will do our best to support state governments to tackle terrorism,” Shinde said, adding that there was a long road ahead but was confident of tackling terrorism. 10:15 : Shinde says situation has greatly improved in J&K The Home Minister said almost all terror strike cases have been effectively investigated and barring some cases like the Varanasi and Bangalore blasts, arrests have been made in the case. “24X7 intelligence teams have helped bust terror plans,” Shinde said.

 The Home Minister also praised the security within Jammu and Kashmir, which he said had improved greatly.

“The number of infiltration attempts have greatly refused,” he said. Shinde said that the government was also willing to engage in talks with insurgent groups in northeast India as long as they laid down arms and listed a series of talks that the government was engaged in. 10:05 am: Shinde calls Maoist Chhattisgarh attack an attack on democracy Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde kicked off the conference with his speech on the state of internal security in the country. And began with the mention of the Chhattisgarh Maoist terror strike. “It was an attack on democracy,” Shinde said. While the government will go all out to address the problems of the tribals and ensure public systems are delivered to them, it will take strong action against the Maoists, the minister said. “In order to deal with the perpetrators of the crime, the case has been handed over to the NIA in consultation with the state government,” Shinde said. Security in the country has largely been under control, the Home Minister said, adding that there have been only two major blasts over the last year. 10:00 am: Modi arrives at venue, accused of looking past Nitish The two chief ministers may not have publicly said anything against each other, but Modi shuffling past Nitish at the Chief Ministers’ conference without acknowledging him or vice versa has already sparked off a headline on one channel. Nitish was engrossed in a conversation with Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh and may not have seen Modi walk past, but that can’t stop speculation can it? 9:45 am: Modi and Nitish may be joined in opposition to NCTC While Jayalalithaa may not bother turning up and deputed her minister to do the talking for her, Gujarat and Bihar chief ministers Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar will be present and opposing some of the government’s plans.  The two chief ministers may be on a collision course in the political sphere but in the conference the duo may both be on the same side when it comes to opposing the centre’s plan for a National Counter Terrorism Centre, reported CNN-IBN. The two chief ministers have strong opposition to the clauses in the NCTC draft and while Modi will seek the strengthening of the Intelligence bureau he’s not keen on the existing plan for the counter terrorism body. 9:30 am: CMs conference on internal security today, Jaya won’t be there The Chief Ministers’ conference on internal security will be presided over by the Prime Minister today and will discuss various topics ranging from the National Counter Terorrism Centre and possibly even Naxalism, in light of the recent attack in Chhattisgarh. However, not all chief ministers will be present. Notably, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa who has termed the summit a ritualistic exercise. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will also be missing but she’s not made her reasons public.