The Hindu : National : BJP wants Shivraj Patil to go

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Tuesday, Sep 16, 2008
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BJP wants Shivraj Patil to go

Sujay Mehdudia

Charges Manmohan with directing all his energies to the India-U.S. nuclear deal
“Convene Chief Ministers’ meet to debate internal security”

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday charged the United Progressive Alliance government with trying to patronise terrorists and their patrons and demanded the immediate dismissal of Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, accusing him of “criminal negligence” in running the Ministry’s affairs and putting the security of the country in peril.

At a press conference here, senior party leader and spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said the conduct of Mr. Patil and the Home Ministry under him was nothing but criminal negligence, putting the lives of innocent citizens in danger.

“We demand that the Prime Minister immediately dismiss Mr. Patil and the Union government take necessary steps, including framing of stringent laws to deal with terrorists and terrorism, and the BJP will fully support it,” he said.

Mr. Prasad said what was most unfortunate was that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had directed all his energies towards the India-U.S. nuclear deal and nothing was being done to tackle terrorism.

“MCOCA not invoked”

“What is even more worrying is that the statements by the Prime Minister and the Home Minister on such issues like blasts and laws against terrorism are aimed at encouraging the patrons of terror,” he alleged.

Condemning the serial blasts in Delhi, Mr. Prasad said the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) was in force in Delhi since 2002 but not invoked to contain terror, leading to the blasts. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi had warned the Prime Minister and the Home Minister about Delhi being the next target but that warning was not taken seriously. “Why are innocent people being killed and terrorists given a free run? The plea to set up a federal agency for dealing with such acts of terror is nothing but a tactic to divert attention from the main issue.”

A meeting of Chief Ministers should be convened to debate the internal security situation which was very precarious.

Delhi had been under the terror threat for long and despite loss of innocent lives in blasts at Paharganj and Sarojni Nagar in 2005, the MCOCA was not being invoked.

This indicated the lack of seriousness on the part of the Centre as well as the Delhi government to effectively deal with the situation.

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