NEW DELHI: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today raised concerns over the new draft on National Counter Terrorism Centre terming it a “poorly conceived” idea which “tinkers” with old ideas rather than strengthening them.
“It is not clear how big it is going to be, what forces are going to comprise it, how exactly it is going to function and which statute will it derive its powers from. I think such poorly conceived ideas which tinker with age old existing systems rather than strengthening them are going to do irreparable loss to our internal security apparatus,” he said.
Modi said he was slightly worried about the last minute circulation of proposed order on NCTC.
He said, “The fact that it is on the agenda and gets a passing mention should not be construed as a consultation with the states much less an arriving of consensus on this issue.”
Speaking at the conference of Chief Ministers on Internal Security, the Gujarat Chief Minister said the new draft circulated has taken into consideration some of the concerns raised by the states but even then serious concerns remain.
Modi expressed his strong reservations about the structure and functioning proposed in the National Counter Terrorism Centre Order, 2013.
“Moving the multi-agency centre (MAC) from within IB to the proposed NCTC will end up weakening it even as it appeared that it was taking some concrete shape. The proposed NCTC will be just another superstructure in the maze of institutions already existing,” he said.
Modi said proposed structure of the NCTC is not in congruence with the principles of federalism as it essentially tries to create a “federal police” which is an alien concept to the country.
“I fear that it will be another institution of the Centre for political misuse against opposition-ruled states,” the Gujarat Chief Minister said. . Modi said the creation of any new institution or organization of this nature should be done only after having a complete unanimity amongst the Centre and the states.
“The inability of the Centre to coordinate efforts with states to achieve consensus on such issues emanates from the unwillingness on its part to recognize the states as equal partners in handling issues related to internal security. It also exhibits a strong sense of one-upmanship and contempt for the constitutional division of powers,” he said.
The Chief Minister said instead of creating a new institution in the form of NCTC, MAC should be strengthened and it should undertake a massive drive for augmenting the operational abilities of the existing security forces.
“Multiplicity of agencies will only create more confusions and ineffectiveness at the field level,” he said.
Modi expressed his concerns about purported threat of CPI (Maoist) to target areas of the country which are the drivers of the industrial progress of the country.
“Their main target, as per their own words; is the ‘Golden Corridor’ of the Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad industrial belt, which also includes the major industrial clusters of Surat and Baroda. Given this background, I am disappointed once again by the short-sightedness of today’s agenda.
“While the LWE (Left wing extremism) affected states fully deserve all priority in the security response of the country, it will be an extremely myopic approach to ignore the security concerns of the LWE targeted regions,” Modi said.
Modi criticized poor tangible outcomes of such meetings and said such meetings should be zealously guarded from becoming mere fora for academic exchanges or getting reduced to annual rituals.
“Now, more than ever before, we need firm political will to unite as a nation and its leaders, for charting a clear and decisive direction on this critical matter of Internal Security,” he said. On the internal security situation of the country, the Chief Minister said the situation today is worse than ever before as country continues to be vulnerable to the threats posed by cross border terrorism and Left wing extremism.
“We are also becoming increasingly susceptible to newer forms of security threats such as cyber-attacks, narco-terrorism and terror-financing,” he said.
Modi said terrorists and Maoists are striking with such impunity while Central government, and nation at large, remain mute spectators to macabre death and destruction.
“It is further disheartening that in times of crisis when the Union Government is expected to lead from the front, it chooses to be a disinterested spectator believing that its role ends with generating and passing on intelligence inputs to the states, which themselves are rarely specific and hardly ever actionable,” he said.
He also shot down idea of separate cadre of investigators calling it impractical.
“Such division of functioning can often lead to callousness as well, creating inconvenience and difficulties.
In light of the above, total separation is impractical and undesirable,” he said.
Modi said the Centre seems to be punishing the states in the modernization of police force where the contribution of states has been increased from 25 per cent to 40 per cent after they demanded 100 per cent central funding for it.
“These instances expose the lack of seriousness with which the Centre follows up on suggestions given by us,” he said.
Modi said it is ironical that while the Union government provides untied funds for numerous schemes even to panchayats, it is unwilling to do the same with state governments in matters of internal security. Later talking to media, Modi said the UPA government talks big on national security but its actions smack of ensuring political security.
“The UPA-led Centre talks of national security but all its action are for ensuring political security,” Modi told reporters.
Modi contended that creating new probe agencies was not an answer to tackling serious challenges faced by the nation as such actions end up demoralizing the existing organizations.
He accused the Centre of using central agencies for political benefits.
He also questioned the Center’s proposal to move the multi-agency centre (MAC) from the Intelligence Bureau to the proposed NCTC.
Modi said the setting up of NCTC did not find any mention in the speeches made by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde despite the matter being on the agenda of the meeting.
He claimed that the idea of NCTC itself was against the federal structure of the Constitution, which the UPA was trying to weaken through its actions.
He said the Centre is trying to weaken the federal structure by encouraging states like Tripura and Mizoram to sort out issues between them, a move against the recommendations of the Sarkaria Commission which had suggested setting up a mechanism to resolve inter-state issues.
The Gujarat Chief Minister also demanded that the Centre bring out an action taken report on the outcome of meetings on internal security convened by it during the past 10 years. -PTI
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