At internal security meet,politics takes front seat

“When the terrorists are getting support from enemies across our border and when terrorism has got hand in glove with organised crime syndicates,it is shocking and unfathomable for me to understand why the central government should be opposed to the proposed provision of the GUJCOC,” Modi said. The Centre had recently returned the Bill to the state seeking deletion of certain controversial clauses. 

“I fail to understand why the central government should oppose provisions which are already part of similar Acts in Karnataka and Maharashtra,” he said,requesting the Centre to recommend the Bill for Presidential assent as it had been passed by the Assembly again.

Modi,meanwhile,claimed credit for the points raised by him finding their way into the 14-point agenda finalised at the end of the conference.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan invoked “Hon’ble Advaniji” to make his point that under the police modernisation scheme initiated by the former Deputy Prime Minister,“we had an outlay of Rs 112 crore which has now come down to just Rs 50 crore”. He expressed regret that the Centre did not increase the outlay for such an important scheme.

Batting for a tough law against organised crime,Chouhan said the internal security would always be under danger unless crime syndicates were tackled. “There is already an act to thwart and counter both terror activities and organised crime in the state of Maharashtra. It has also passed the strict test of judicial review. The Madhya Pradesh Assembly has also debated and passed a similar legislation,” Chouhan said asking that the Bill,currently pending for Presidential assent,be passed.

In his address,Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar made it clear in the very beginning that he will not dwell upon the points on the agenda item since they had been “transmitted earlier to the central government” and instead chose to raise what he called “some basic issues”.

Insisting on maintenance of regular flow of All India Service officers from the states to the Centre and vice-versa,he said,“The recent trend I have noticed is that the Government of India routinely asks for extension of the deputation period of IPS officers serving under them.”

“A lot of pressure is brought upon state officials to recommend their cases. This has a demoralizing effect on officers who are waiting in line to go on central deputation¿.I strongly urge you to have this enquired into and see whether for many of the IPS officers there have been persistent requests for extension of deputation period,” he added. 

He also stated that the Centre had been penalising states that have not performed well in the past. “This is clearly a case of double jeopardy. Past performance cannot be the criteria for blocking future release of funds,” he said.