Most strident are Modi & Jaya,both echo each other’s lines
Narendra Modi and Jayalalithaa showed how similar their thought processes are.
WHILE rejecting the proposal to create an NCTC,Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa showed how similar their thought processes are,at least on this particular issue.
Modi and Jayalalithaa — whose intriguing bonhomie has often invited political curiousity — read out the longest speeches,made the most critical remarks against the Centre,raked up almost the same issues,and used almost the same arguments to oppose the NCTC. Both stood out in the bitterness with which they spoke of the central government.
“Autocratic”,said Modi,about the Centre. “Disdainful”,and having “utter contempt” for the state governments,added Jayalalithaa.
Unlike their other colleagues,the two did not restrict themselves to the NCTC,the specific subject for the meeting. Instead,they brought up other contentious issues like the proposed amendments to the BSF and RPF Acts,and even questioned the creation of the National Investigation Agency in 2008,which incidentally the Home Ministry had cited as a precedent while proposing the NCTC.
“Be it the proposed amendments to the Railway Protection Force Act,the Border Security Force Act,and the limited competitive examinations issue and so on,the union government has behaved in a manner which reminds us of the ‘viceroys of yore’,” Modi said.
“The assertions and assumptions on which the NCTC order has been crafted casts the central government in the role of the omnipresent,omniscient ruler with the states portrayed like dependent vassals,” he said.
Jayalalithaa echoed the same sentiment,though in slightly different words. “The way things are evolving with the creation of the NIA and NCTC and the proposed amendments to the RPF Act and the BSF Act,we seem to be headed towards an autocracy consisting of a ‘government of the Centre,by the Centre,for the Centre’,” she said.
Jayalalithaa said the standard operating procedures — circulated by the Home Ministry on the eve of the meeting — for the proposed functioning of the NCTC offered “lame excuses” and were “only worthy of outright contemptuous dismissal”.
The two leaders,almost in total synchronisation,raised concerns about the after-effects of an NCTC-led operation. “Who will be responsible for the loss of innocent lives that may occur during the course of the operation dictated by the Intelligence Bureau?” asked Jayalalithaa.
Modi said the NCTC would behave like “fly-by-night Rambos” and the states would be left to “clean the mess”.
The two chief ministers have an interesting history,though totally different political backgrounds. Modi takes pride in having risen through the ranks of the RSS,that preaches cultural Hinduism,while Jayalalithaa’s party belongs to the Dravidian movement that doesn’t believe in any religion. Their two parties,BJP and the AIADMK,have a love-hate relationship. And yet,these two chief ministers have often demonstrated a perplexing mutual warmth that has been fodder for much political speculation.
Modi was one of the few chief ministers invited to the swearing-in ceremony of Jayalalithaa when she took over as chief minister last year. That was probably in response to Jayalalithaa attending Modi’s swearing-in five years ago. Jayalalithaa is one of the very few prominent political figures outside of BJP who has not been overtly critical of Modi for the 2002 riots. In fact,last year when Modi was holding a series of fasts,she sent her representative to attend one of them.
Their bonhomie was very much in evidence today as well,as they lambasted the Centre in a language that was mixed with anger,hurt and sarcasm.
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