NCTC controversy update

Persisting with their opposition to the jurisdiction conferred on the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), chief ministers of Odisha and Bihar, Navin Patnaik and Nitish Kumar, respectively, on Monday told the Centre not to go ahead with the launch of the anti-terror agency on March 1 without holding consultations with states. In his second letter to the PM on the issue, Patnaik said that the Centre should urgently hold consultations with states. “I request you to urgently initiate the process of consultation with the states. The order (for NCTC’s launch), with modifications as necessary, should come into force only after due consultation with us,” he wrote. According to agency reports, Kumar took a tougher line. Referring to the objections raised by CMs that the provision empowering the NCTC to make arrests, carry out searches and seizures, and ask for information from any agency infringed the rights of states, the Bihar CM said, “Won’t you agree the suggestion that the government of India must re-examine the whole issue and ensure that the order is suitably modified to take care of the states’ genuine concerns.” Patnaik emphasized that his primary grouse was against the unilateral manner in which the NCTC was set up. It was interpreted that the Odisha CM, who played a key role in rallying other CMs around the resistance to the NCTC, may not be hostile to the concept of having a central body that is billed to be the nation’s chief anti-terror agency. Although Patnaik seemed to lament that the PM had not yet responded to his first letter and slipped in a reference to the suspension of democratic rights during the Emergency, the tone of his second letter appeared conciliatory and focused on emphasizing the commonalities. “Let me make it clear that terrorism and extremism are scourges which need to be fought by the nation in a united manner. I strongly oppose terrorism and extremism in any form and have always been with the Central government in fighting against them. My primary objection to the NCTC is the high-handed manner in which government of India has tried to address such an important issue. Prior consultation with the states would have greatly strengthened the process of national security in which our aims are identical,” said Patnaik. Odhisa CM also rebutted the charge that CMs by opposing NCTC had “politicized the campaign against terror”. “As the chief minister of Odisha and a citizen of India, the security of the nation is my prime concern as I am sure it is of all the CMs in our country,” he wrote. He also said that the contentious provisions vested in the NCTC “does not have legitimacy in the absence of consultations with the state governments for incorporating their views on such a critical subject”. Although Kumar also called for consultations, his letter to the PM was marked by the insistence that there ought to be a change in the notification of setting up the NCTC since it marked an encroachment on the power of states. He questioned the rationale of NCTC. “We all are together in the fight against terrorism. The states have always cooperated with the Centre. What has then warranted the setting up of such centres,” he argued.