Communal Bill comes under attack in NIC meeting

New Delhi, Sep 10 (PTI) - The National Integration Council
(NIC) Saturday saw the states run by National Democratic
Alliance (NDA) governments and United Progressive Alliance
(UPA) constituent Trinamool Congress coming together to oppose
the proposed Bill on Communal Violence as anti-federal in
nature and that it should not be brought to Parliament.
At the day-long meeting of the Chief Ministers, leaders
of political parties and eminent people from various walks of
life, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke of the
dangers of terrorism and left wing extremism.
Against the backdrop of Wednesday's blast in Delhi High
Court, the Prime Minister said it was a reminder that there
can be no let up in vigil.
Chief Ministers of several states, including Uttar
Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Bihar, Gujarat, Punjab,
Rajasthan and Kerala did not attend the meeting held after a
gap of three years. The meeting decided that the NIC will meet
every year.
States, including Orissa run by Biju Janata Dal, utilised
the occasion of the day-long meeting of the NIC calling the
Communal Violence Bill "dangerous" but the Prime Minister gave
an assurance that nothing will be done to disturb the
country's federal structure.
Leaders of Opposition in both houses of Parliament and
senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders Sushma Swaraj and
Arun Jaitley came out in full support of the Chief Ministers
of states ruled by the party Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh,
Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and headed by its
allay in Bihar and Punjab to denounce the Bill. Swaraj said the proposed legislation is dangerous as it
would encourage communalism rather than curb it. The BJP chief
ministers felt that the law based on the draft made by Sonia
Gandhi led National Advisory Council presumed that the
majority community was always at fault.
The BJP Chief Ministers felt that the Bill expresses a
feeling of mistrust in the state government machinery and
would directly interfere with the legitimate authority of the
states.
Chief Ministers of Bihar and Punjab, who are BJP allies,
also had strong reservations over the Bill. Bihar Chief
Minister Nitish Kumar said the Bill may create "impression"
among the people at large that majority community is "always
responsible for communal incidents."
However, what was surprising was leader of Trinamool
Congress and Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi said his party
also opposes the Bill in its present form.
Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said the Bill has
some objectionable provisions that would affect the autonomy
of states while the UP Chief Minister Mayawati faulted the
Centre for seeking comments even without circulating the Bill.
Briefing reporters at the end of the meeting, Union Home
Secretary R K Singh said government has taken note of the
reservations from Chief Ministers who felt that it encroaches
their jurisdiction.
"The Prime Minister said that we have taken note of the
views expressed in the meeting. We will examine them and
whatever bill we will bring, it will be in accordance with the
constitution," the Home Secretary said.
In his speech, the Prime Minister himself avoided the
topic of Communal Violence Bill while Home Minister P
Chidambaram said the communal violence is a visible example of
the primeval attitudes of the groups that seek to dominate or
subjugate other groups.