A DOZEN states have raised strong objections to the formation and the setting up of the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) at Kolkata by the UPA government.
In addition, opposition leader of Telugu Desam, Chandrababu Naidu, has also joined the chorus of protest. The chief ministers have all shot off letters to the Prime Minister asking him to drop the move. They have pointed out that the power of the NCTC will enable it to undertake search and seize operations and this is definitely against the rights of the states with regard to law and order.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has criticized the statement of Home Minister P. Chidambaram that countering terrorism is a shared responsibility of the Centre and the States. He has pointed out that if he really held this view, he would have discussed the issue with the states before imposing the Centre’s authority on them. The Prime Minister evidently has not replied to the letters from chief ministers. He cannot, however, continue to ignore them.
In the first place, the Centre’s NCTC cannot act properly without the cooperation of the states. The UPA government can expect to share responsibility only with the Congress-ruled states which – whether they like it or not —have no go but to support it. It is not only Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, but also another ally of the Congress at the Centre — the DMK —which has declared that it is opposed to any interference with state powers with regard to law and order.
With so much opposition from states, it would be unwise for UPA government to go ahead with its counter-terror move.