New Delhi: Hitting out at the Congress-led
UPA government at the Centre, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra
Modi Monday accused it of playing politics while dealing with
terrorism and said he "fails to understand" why it returned
the anti-terror bill proposed by his state.
"When it comes to dealing with terrorists, we must draw a
clear line between those who are on their side and those who
are on the side of society," he said referring to the Centre
rejecting his government`s Gujarat Control of Organised Crime
(GUJCOC) Act.
Modi said the anti-terror bill which had been pending
with the Central government for a long time was returned to
the state Assembly recently with the directions to delete
certain provisions.
"...I fail to understand why the Central government
should oppose provisions which are already part of the similar
Acts in Karnataka and Maharashtra," he said while speaking at
the Chief Minister`s conference on Internal Security here.
The Chief Minister said, "Even the so-called liberal
democracies and proclaimed upholders of human rights like USA,
Canada, Australia etc have enacted laws having more stringent
provisions than the proposed GUJCOC Act."
Making a strong case for the proposed law, Modi said the
need for such a legislation was not only for punishing the
"perpetrators of terrorism" but also to prevent educated youth
from being drawn into terrorist ideology.
Bureau Report
