At the 15th meeting of the National Integration Council (NIC), held on Saturday, the states run by NDA governments, and UPA constituent Trinamool Congress, came together to oppose the proposed legislation on Communal Violence, calling it “anti-federal”, and asserted that it should not be brought to Parliament.
The government had circulated a draft of the Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Access to Justice and Regulations) Bill 2011 among the states, seeking their views and suggestions. During the NIC meeting, the chief ministers of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Punjab and West Bengal (represented by railway minister Dinesh Trivedi) opposed the proposed law in its current form and termed the provisions of the Bill “dangerous”.
During the meeting chaired by prime minister Manmohan Singh, leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj said the proposed legislation would “encourage communalism” rather than curb it, by furthering the divide between majority and minority communities.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar objected to the provision for promulgation of Article 355 of the Constitution, which gives the Centre a right to intervene during incidents of internal disturbance such as communal violence.
BJP president Nitin Gadkari wrote to the PM saying that the legislation discriminates on the basis of caste and religion. “India cannot countenance a situation where members of various religious denominations have a separate criminal law. Such a proposal if implemented would be unconstitutional,” Gadkari wrote.
