CMs’ objections to NCTC flawed
It was extraordinary to hear some of the arguments advanced by non-Congress chief ministers when they discussed the proposed National Counter-Terrorism Centre on Saturday at a meeting called by the Centre. Clearly, some of our CMs do not sufficiently appreciate the sophisticated features of international terrorism which has targeted India for three decades; its reach, resources and swiftness of mobility of its deadly practitioners who flit across boundaries; the ultra-modern nature of communications and fighting equipment it employs; and the enormous funds at its disposal, not to mention ideological, political and occasionally ground-level support that becomes available to it. All of this was encapsulated in the Mumbai attacks. But in search of political one-upmanship, Indian politicians have learnt no lessons.
One of them called the NCTC a “counter-productive” idea. Another said it was a deliberate ploy to disturb the federal basis of India’s constitutional arrangements, and was not needed. Yet another felt it could be used to target political rivals. Even so they found no hilarity in the suggestion that one of them head a subcommittee of chief ministers to discuss the issue.
So much opposition to the NCTC, especially in the language that has been used to debunk the idea which is crucial to the nation’s security, is unlikely to have surfaced if the UPA-2 had been a politically strong ruling arrangement. Precisely because it looks weak, the CMs have declared open season on it, on the fictitious ground of a threat to the country’s federal principle.
An explanation such as this is a convenient tool for many reasons. It helps bridge the secular-communal divide and bring together CMs of different hues. It was also used to torpedo the suggestion of a Lokayukta for the states on the lines of the Lokpal at the Centre, although acceptance by states was not to be mandatory. For reasons that are not clear, the bogey of absence of trust between the Centre and the states is also raised when the NCTC is discussed. On the whole, as part of preparing for the next election, the impression sought to be given is that the present government has become dysfunctional and cannot attend even to basic national security needs.
The Centre went the extra mile to consult the states on the NCTC when an executive order was sufficient to create it. This has been passed. The government should now make NCTC operational by taking state police chiefs on its board. It may be better to take NCTC out of the Intelligence Bureau and make it a standalone body. If a nationally coordinated body to fight terrorism does not materialise even after the Mumbai experience, we will become the laughing stock of the world.
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