NCTC issue: Mamata Banerjee snubs P Chidambaram at NSG
Citing Article 355 of the Constitution, Chidambaram, who was careful not to make any direct reference to NCTC in his speech, said it had consciously “made national security and internal security a shared responsibility.”
By ET Bureau | Updated:
NEW DELHI: The confrontation between the Centre and the states regarding the powers of the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) showed no signs of abating with West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee skipping a Kolkata event on Saturday that had Union home minister P Chidambaram as its chief guest.
Banerjee’s apparent snub comes even as more chief ministers, including Punjab’s Parkash Singh Badal, Chattisgarh’s Raman Singh and Karnataka’s D V Sadananda Gowda joining the campaign against “anti-federal” provisions of the NCTC, which comes into being on March 1.
Even as Chidambaram, in his address at the inauguration ceremony of the NSG hub at Badu justified the decision to notify NCTC saying that national security was a shared responsibility of the Central and state governments, Banerjee ensured that she was not around to listen to his argument.
She deputed Trinamool Congress general secretary and central minister Mukul Roy and West Bengal Food Minister Jyotipriyo Mullick to attend the NSG event.
Seeking to counter the argument of the chief ministers, which now includes Banerjee, Naveen Patnaik, J Jayalalithaa, Nitish Kumar, Narendra Modi, Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Prem Kumar Dhumal, that the February 3 NCTC order infringes upon the exclusive “law and order” domain of the states, Chidambaram said: “Security of the country is shared by the Centre and state governments. The Constitution of India assigns law and order to the state government and also assigns the Centre to protect the country against external aggression or internal disturbance.”
Citing Article 355 of the Constitution, Chidambaram, who was careful not to make any direct reference to NCTC in his speech, said it had consciously “made national security and internal security a shared responsibility.”
“I have a responsibility to work with the states to quell terror, any militancy or rebellion,” he said. The BJP on Saturday reacted by accusing the Union home minister of double-speak in stating on the one hand that controlling terror was a shared responsibility of the Centre and state and, on the other hand, formulating the NCTC order without circulating the draft to the state governments.
Banerjee’s apparent snub comes even as more chief ministers, including Punjab’s Parkash Singh Badal, Chattisgarh’s Raman Singh and Karnataka’s D V Sadananda Gowda joining the campaign against “anti-federal” provisions of the NCTC, which comes into being on March 1.
Even as Chidambaram, in his address at the inauguration ceremony of the NSG hub at Badu justified the decision to notify NCTC saying that national security was a shared responsibility of the Central and state governments, Banerjee ensured that she was not around to listen to his argument.
She deputed Trinamool Congress general secretary and central minister Mukul Roy and West Bengal Food Minister Jyotipriyo Mullick to attend the NSG event.
Seeking to counter the argument of the chief ministers, which now includes Banerjee, Naveen Patnaik, J Jayalalithaa, Nitish Kumar, Narendra Modi, Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Prem Kumar Dhumal, that the February 3 NCTC order infringes upon the exclusive “law and order” domain of the states, Chidambaram said: “Security of the country is shared by the Centre and state governments. The Constitution of India assigns law and order to the state government and also assigns the Centre to protect the country against external aggression or internal disturbance.”
Citing Article 355 of the Constitution, Chidambaram, who was careful not to make any direct reference to NCTC in his speech, said it had consciously “made national security and internal security a shared responsibility.”
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“I have a responsibility to work with the states to quell terror, any militancy or rebellion,” he said. The BJP on Saturday reacted by accusing the Union home minister of double-speak in stating on the one hand that controlling terror was a shared responsibility of the Centre and state and, on the other hand, formulating the NCTC order without circulating the draft to the state governments.
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