New Delhi: Downplaying the controversy surrounding Mamata Banerjee`s opposition to the setting up of National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), Congress on Friday said the agency was not constituted to trample on states` rights and assured that concerns, if any, would be addressed.
Party spokesperson Manish Tewari also emphasized the need to "transcend the forms and look at the substance", noting that terror is a real threat and that there is a need to
"bring together all elements of national power in the real time in order to surmount formidable challenge to it".
He also found nothing wrong in Banerjee writing to the Prime Minister yesterday to "review and withdraw" the order on organization, function, power and duties of the newly
constituted NCTC.
"We do not live in a monolithic but political structure. We live in a multi-polar political structure. In that kind of arrangement all chief ministers should have the right and
flexibility of articulating their opinion on any administrative and political measure," Tewari said
Cautioning against "tilting at the windmills", he said the issue should not be blown up in "some sort of crisis, where there is none".
Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had also written to the Prime Minister against the NCTC earlier.
Tewari, however, said, "I do not think the intent is to create an agency, which will trample on the right of the state. The intent of the government is that let us have a proactive agency through which we can proactively tackle terrorism".
Tewari at the same time said there is no question about divergence of opinion as in a federal polity people is entitled their points of view on a particular matter. He also
chose to remind that the genesis of the NCTC lies in multi- agency centre mooted during the NDA regime.
PTI
