Words of condemnation and announcement of compensation not going to solve Terrorism- Venkaiah Naidu

BJP wants re-enactment of POTA

Pioneer News Service | Kochi

The BJP on Tuesday called for re-enactment of the Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act (POTA), accusing the Manmohan Singh-led UPA regime of being soft on terrorism in the context of Bangalore and Ahmedabad blasts and the security threats to other States including Kerala.
 
 

 
Senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu told newspersons that although law and order was a State subject, State Governments alone could not handle terrorist attacks as these were being orchestrated from across the border and had inter-state dimensions. The Central Government should convene a meeting of CMs to discuss constitution of a federal agency to combat terrorism.
 

 
Criticising the UPA regime for linking the use of POTA with a particular community, Naidu said that the proposal of the previous NDA Govt to issue identity cards to all citizens should be revived and other measures taken to protect the border against infiltration.
 

 
“Terrorism has no caste or religion. But it is a fact that the enemies are using religion as a major cover for their activities. It is also a fact that those who are working and creating terror in India at the behest of the foreign masterminds belong to local sleeper cells,” he said.
 

 
Claiming that 100 terrorist attacks had taken place since the UPA came to power in 2004, Naidu said mere words of condemnation and announcement of compensation for victims was not going to solve the problem. The e-mail sent in the name of Indian Mujahideen was a challenge to the sovereignty of India and the country should have a war plan against terrorism, he said.
 

 
Referring to the cash-for-votes controversy with respect to the trust vote in Lok Sabha last week, the BJP leader denied any party role in the sting operation carried out by television channel CNN-IBN, but he demanded that the tapes be telecast because the people of the country had a right to know the truth.
 

 
Wondering why the channel was not telecasting the tapes, Naidu said that the channel was “duty-bound” to explain the purpose of the sting operation. “Why did it take them more than 30 hours to give the tape to the Speaker? What happened in between? The channel’s action is intriguing,” he protested.
 

 
Asked about party leader Sushma Swaraj’s statement that the recent explosions in Bangalore and Ahmedabad were carried out to divert attention from the bribery scam, Naidu said both the issues were serious and both should be debated. He also faulted Speaker Somnath Chatterjee for not showing the tapes to the leaders of the political parties and carrying on with the voting on the confidence motion. Claiming that the trust vote was invalid as several MPs were standing during the exercise, Naidu said as per Parliamentary regulations, all MPs should be seated. Otherwise the voting was invalid, he said.