Mamata scores again, says PM agreed to put anti-terror hub on hold

New Delhi: After a meeting with the Prime Minister this evening, Mamata Banerjee has apparently got exactly what she came for. The chief minister says that the Prime Minister has agreed that a new counter-terror agency will not swing into operation on March 1, as announced, till state governments are consulted. A group of seven chief ministers, which includes Ms Banerjee, had said the National Counter Terror Centre (NCTC) trespasses into state turf, and therefore violates the country's federal structure.

Ms Banerjee said she has asked the Prime Minister to suspend the executive order issued earlier this month that sanctions the NCTC. She said this is essential to avoid confusion while the centre holds talks with the state governments who have serious reservations about the NCTC. Ms Banerjee said Dr Manmohan Singh agreed to this request.

Yesterday, the PM wrote to the G-7, assuring him that the centre is committed to protecting the principles of federalism. He said the NCTC is located within the Intelligence Bureau which "coordinates counter-terrorism efforts throughout the country. It is for this reason that the NCTC has been located within the IB and not as a separate organisation."

Dr Singh wrote that he has noted the chief ministers' concerns and asked Home Minister P Chidambaram to engage with them. The NCTC has been championed by Mr Chidambaram since 26/11 when 10 Pakistani terrorists killed 166 people in Mumbai.

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But the blueprint for the NCTC has outraged non-Congress state governments, who have to the Prime Minister with ferocious critiques of the NCTC. Some like Odisha's Naveen Patnaik and Tamil Nadu's Jayalalithaa sent two letters to the PM, asking him to review and withdraw the order that creates the NCTC. The conglomerate of political hefties opposed to the NCTC includes Gujarat's Narendra Modi and Bihar's Nitish Kumar. But given her status as a senior member of the UPA coalition at the centre, it's Ms Banerjee's take that carries maximum weight.

"In the name of NCTC, they can arrest anybody, they can interfere in any business, they can requisite police personnel from any state.  This contradicts  the federal structure," Ms Banerjee explained today.  That echoes what the other chief ministers have expressed - that the NCTC has been granted the prerogative to fly into a state, make arrests, and leave with suspects, all without any obligation to consult the state government. .

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Ms Banerjee said, "According to the constitution, the central government is like a parent, the state governments are like children.  The centre must look after its children."