Ahmedabad:
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has hit out at the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre, accusing it of playing politics while dealing with terrorism. He is irked at the Centre returning an anti-terror Bill proposed by his state.
"When it comes to dealing with terrorists, we must draw a clear line between those who are on their side and those who are on the side of society," he said referring to the Centre rejecting his government's Gujarat Control of Organised Crime (GUJCOC) Act.
Modi said the anti-terror Bill, which had been pending with the central government for a long time, was returned to the state assembly recently with directions to delete certain provisions.
"...I fail to understand why the central government should oppose provisions which are already part of similar Acts in Karnataka and Maharashtra," he said while speaking at the Chief Minister's conference on Internal Security in the Capital.
The Gujarat Chief Minister said, "Even the so-called liberal democracies and proclaimed upholders of human rights like USA, Canada, Australia etc have enacted laws having more stringent provisions than the proposed GUJCOC Act."
Making a strong case for the proposed law, Modi said such legislation was needed not only to punish the "perpetrators of terrorism" but also to prevent educated youth from being drawn into terrorist ideology.