Vasundhara Raje slams the Centre

Monday, October 13, 2008 at 2:10 am

The stage is set on Monday (October 13, 2008) at the National Integration Council meet – where it seems just the Indian government and the opposition will go to war – with the first salvo being already fired by the BJP, which is very angry that the Centre has decided not to include combating terror on the NIC agenda. In fact, two BJP Chief Ministers – Vasundhara Raje and Narendra Modi – have shot off letters in this regard to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Thus tomorrow, the Center and the Opposition may end up being locked in a bitter war of words, as the top ruling and opposition politicians would be arriving in the capital to attend the already controversial NIC meet.

Ahead of tomorrow’s National Integration Council meeting, two BJP Chief Ministers – Vasundhara Raje and Narendra Modi – are very angry with the Centre. Vasundhara Raje and Narendra Modi, have taken strong exception to the UPA Government’s decision, of not including terrorism in the agenda of the National Integration Council meeting.

Both the Rajasthan and Gujarat Chief Ministers have written letters to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to mark their protest against the move. Vasudhara Raje has accused the central government of being “hostage to votebank politics”.

But the Prime Minister and his lieutenants aren’t about to give the BJP a platform to grandstand. The Centre intends to take a sterner stand, by demanding a ban on saffron outfits like the Bajrang Dal and VHP.

Raje sends letter of protest to PM

Raje’s letter to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, states that she is upset that an issue like terrorism, which is threatening the very existence of the country – is not even on the NIC agenda, wherein all the Chief Ministers of all the states will be meeting in Delhi on Monday (October 13, 2008). Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, also questions the exclusion of terror from the NIC agenda.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje today (October 12), assailed the Centre for not clearing the Rajasthan Organised Crime Protection Bill pending for the last two years, along with stressing the need for enactment of a POTA-like effective law in the country to fight terrorism.

Addressing the media, Raje stated that her government had passed, and forwarded the Bill to the Centre two years ago. ”Since then, the Bill is pending for clearance in the Home Ministry, obviously for political reasons” the Chief Minister proclaimed.

Raje further asserted, that her state government had passed the bill, on the lines of the one passed by Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh. While the Bills of the Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh were cleared long ago by the Centre, the same from Rajasthan and Gujarat had been kept on hold, Raje alleged.

Vasundhara Raje queried as well, regarding the two-way appraoch adopted by the Centre – in getting the bills from the two Congress ruled states cleared – but the same from two BJP ruled states, were still kept pending.

Raje pointed out, present laws were preventing the police from fighting out terrorism effectively, and the country is virtually in need of a POTA like strigent law – and hence, action should be taken in this regard at the earliest, as was stressed by Rajasthan Chief Minister.

( This post is from an independent writer. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not endorsed by APakistanNews.Com.)

Vasundhara Raje slams the Centre

From World:

Todays news from India News

Advertisement

Email Subscription

Advertisement