Rethink internal security ministry, Shobhana Bhartia says in debut speech

Nominated member of the Rajya Sabha Shobhana Bhartia, in her maiden speech, on Thursday suggested that there was a need to revisit the decision to have a minister for internal security, a portfolio in the late Rajiv Gandhi’s Cabinet. Rajya Sabha proceedings were disrupted when BJP members stormed the well, protesting Congress MP Rajiv Shukla’s remarks about negotiations that led to the release of the hijacked Indian plane from Kandahar in 1999. Shukla demanded to know from the BJP if money had changed hands to free the hostages.

Bhartia said India should not appear to be ”soft” on terrorism and called for more stringent laws that can act as a deterrent. Strongly condemning the train blasts in Mumbai, grenade attacks in Srinagar and the killing of innocents in the Naxalite attack in Chhattisgarh, she said the question is what the government can do to protect the people.