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Badal backs India’s black law
curtailing human rights
BJP’s Modi, Kashmir’s Omar have reservations, Left opposes it
Sach Kanwal Singh
 NEW DELHI: It
takes real ingenuity and shameless pursuit of politics when the
Khalsa panth’s stance on a crucial matter like vesting New Delhi
with ever more powers in the name of tackling terrorism and enacting
laws that grossly violate human rights matches the rhetoric of
Gujarat mass killer Narendra Modi but Akali Dal patron and Punjab
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal is seen siding with the opposite
camp.
Grossly
miscalculating the extent of his blunder, Badal, at a conclave of
the Chief Ministers in India on Tuesday, strongly advocated the
proposed National Investigating Agency (NIA), spoke against the
Maoists across India as a law and order problem, and used the
occasion to get even more powers, money and benefits for police.
Compare this
with what Gujarat CM and a much reviled man Narendra Modi told the
conclave. He said the National Investigation Agency (NIA) was
“contrary to our federal spirit” and an attempt at “sidetracking”
the states.
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Badal may have stayed out of touch with the people’s movements
and notion of human right and in his eagerness not to annoy New
Delhi at a time when his entire attention is focussed on passing
on the baton to sonny Sukhbir Badal, but others at the federal
meet talked of the “federal” chasm between Centre and states. |
Modi, who no
doubt has been demanding a POTA-like anti-terror law and will not be
caught dead defending the cause of human rights except that of
Sadhvi Pragya or the killers of Gujarat’s Muslims, did little to
make his opposition any more clear, but it was Badal whose conduct
shocked the Sikh community worldwide.
Most Sikh
organisations have opposed the new law that gives more teeth to
those who care little about human rights at a time when the national
fervour is being whipped up to either attack Pakistan or back up
fake encounters or not allow the right to legal help for anyone
accused of terror activity. Many socialite society voices from
India
have been uttering fascist propaganda and wanted India to attack a
neighbouring country immediately “without losing a minute.” Human
Rights organisations all over the world have condemned India’s new
law.
But Badal, who
was expected to show more statesmanship as he represented a state
that saw not only militant activity but massive levels of state
terrorism, misuse of powers by police in a surcharged atmosphere and
extra-judicial killings, had a different tune to sing that was music
to the ears of both Congress and the RSS-BJP.
Ignoring the
allegations that
Punjab was
almost a police governed state where senior police officers have
often refused to carry out the orders of even the Chief Minister and
elected representatives lived in the fear of the uniformed men,
Badal made no mention of stemming undue police interference but
asked for Rs 300 crore for modernization of state police machinery.
Without any
provocation or even an allegation, Badal said the drug mafia and
smugglers were indulging in illegal trafficking of arms and
ammunition and creating an atmosphere of unrest and insurgency in
Punjab.
He called the people’s struggles going on in many parts of India as
“left wing extremism”.
Thankfully, the
young recently anointed CM from Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah
warned against misuse of anti-terror laws and said the country could
“ill-afford” to make mistakes like the ones that came with TADA and
POTA. It was left to him to remind the gathering about the
importance of “human rights”.
Badal may have
stayed out of touch with the people’s movements and notion of human
right and in his eagerness not to annoy New Delhi at a time when his
entire attention is focussed on passing on the baton to sonny
Sukhbir Badal, but others at the federal meet talked of the
“federal” chasm between Centre and states.
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PM Manmohan Singh used the occasion to project himself as a
tough-talker, called Pakistan the main sponsor of terrorism
against India and tried to bury his own “Pakistan is a victim of
terrorism” formulation framed in September 2006. |
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Many Punjab
experts would feel that Badal dumped the legacy of the struggle for
more rights for the states but a number of other Chief Ministers,
including some from NDA-ruled states and the Left party CMs, raised
issues of powers of the states being infringed upon by the Centre.
In fact, at one
stage, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was forced to say that “If
required, we will be prepared to carry out necessary amendments or
frame appropriate rules to address the concerns identified.” Many of
the laws being enacted either intruded into the domain of the
states.
It was left to
Bihar CM Nitish Kumar to demand that the NIA be barred from taking
up any case not relating to terrorism without the consent of the
state. “It appears recent spurt in terrorist activities has led the
Centre to rush through various legislations without adequate
consultation with state governments,” he said.
West Bengal CM
Buddadeb Bhattacharjee made it clear that the NIA was not in sync
with the “federal nature” of Centre-state relations.
7 January 2009
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