LAWS, BARGAINING, AND PEOPLE
Federalism signifies a continuous process of tough bargaining and negotiation between the federal and state government. This has great significance in context of a parliamentary federal set up like India. In present time, where non traditional security dimensions like terrorism loom large with its threats cutting across borders. The organized nature of this crime with systematic clandestine nature of its operation adds to the gravity of the situation.
The federal apparatus is disturbed when certain states vulnerable due to the changing context of security raise their voice to the need for special laws to tackle the problem. To address the problem at hand, the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) was promulgated in 1999, reportedly to combat organized crime and terrorism. The Gujarat Control of Organized Crime Bill (GUJCOC), which is similar to MCOCA, in response to bomb blasts on 26 July in Ahmedabad and similar attempts at Surat is being pushed upon.
MCOCA is pending for Presidential assent since four years. Similarly when there is call for GUJCOC, the need to address the security scenario in the nation in a holistic manner needs to be addressed. If each state calls for special laws to deal with rising threats each time, then the issue of co-ordination and its imbalance arises. It is not only one state that in under, the security situation has to be dealt from the vantage point of national integrity where such laws seem to be at odds.
It is commendable how Gujarat has achieved a commendable level of development under Chief Minister Narendre Modi and the recent terror strikes are condemnable in severe terms. However, these premises alone do not merit the case for special laws as it does not solve the problem at hand. Mere laws will be insufficient to tackle the problem, unless we pay attention to its implementation. How laws like Prevention of Terrorism Act- POTA have been misused under the pretext of national security which led to a communal divide is an acclaimed fact. This statement has special bearing in case of present demand for GUJCOC.
The organized nature of crime calls for strengthening federal apparatus by doing away with political vendetta, party politics , and working of the two levels of government involving the third tier of Grassroots democracy to unearth the problem. The spirit of federalism dies down when the bargaining between the two levels settles down to aspect of political scores. With United Progressive Alliance at Centre and Bhartiya Janata Party in Gujrat, the sheer reduction of security threat to the level of special laws is unhealthy .in federal and polity terms.
It needs to be emphasized that to deal with anarchists like the terrorists who believe in phantom like destruction, the administration and police at the Centre and State level needs to work in tandem to attack the problem at hand. There needs to be constant dialogue between them and search for consensus. The cry for MCOCA and GUJCOC no has to be dealt very carefully by the Union government, taking into the special need of each state. It has to also keep in mind that if these laws come into force, will it allow other states for such laws as when terror strikes. This might lead to balkanization of federal polity in lieu of each state calling for its special interest and laws.
Thus there is need to first tackle the security challenges by mobilizing the grassroots. There has be systematic efforts at Union and State level to tackle terror to avoid duplication and overburdening the State apparatus with more laws. It is the people residing in various states that should be seen as Citizens of one unified nation, this should be the guiding spirit of dealing with phangs of terrorism as it this common lot that is at the bearing end of ultimate causality.
Federalism signifies a continuous process of tough bargaining and negotiation between the federal and state government. This has great significance in context of a parliamentary federal set up like India. In present time, where non traditional security dimensions like terrorism loom large with its threats cutting across borders. The organized nature of this crime with systematic clandestine nature of its operation adds to the gravity of the situation.
The federal apparatus is disturbed when certain states vulnerable due to the changing context of security raise their voice to the need for special laws to tackle the problem. To address the problem at hand, the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) was promulgated in 1999, reportedly to combat organized crime and terrorism. The Gujarat Control of Organized Crime Bill (GUJCOC), which is similar to MCOCA, in response to bomb blasts on 26 July in Ahmedabad and similar attempts at Surat is being pushed upon.
MCOCA is pending for Presidential assent since four years. Similarly when there is call for GUJCOC, the need to address the security scenario in the nation in a holistic manner needs to be addressed. If each state calls for special laws to deal with rising threats each time, then the issue of co-ordination and its imbalance arises. It is not only one state that in under, the security situation has to be dealt from the vantage point of national integrity where such laws seem to be at odds.
It is commendable how Gujarat has achieved a commendable level of development under Chief Minister Narendre Modi and the recent terror strikes are condemnable in severe terms. However, these premises alone do not merit the case for special laws as it does not solve the problem at hand. Mere laws will be insufficient to tackle the problem, unless we pay attention to its implementation. How laws like Prevention of Terrorism Act- POTA have been misused under the pretext of national security which led to a communal divide is an acclaimed fact. This statement has special bearing in case of present demand for GUJCOC.
The organized nature of crime calls for strengthening federal apparatus by doing away with political vendetta, party politics , and working of the two levels of government involving the third tier of Grassroots democracy to unearth the problem. The spirit of federalism dies down when the bargaining between the two levels settles down to aspect of political scores. With United Progressive Alliance at Centre and Bhartiya Janata Party in Gujrat, the sheer reduction of security threat to the level of special laws is unhealthy .in federal and polity terms.
It needs to be emphasized that to deal with anarchists like the terrorists who believe in phantom like destruction, the administration and police at the Centre and State level needs to work in tandem to attack the problem at hand. There needs to be constant dialogue between them and search for consensus. The cry for MCOCA and GUJCOC no has to be dealt very carefully by the Union government, taking into the special need of each state. It has to also keep in mind that if these laws come into force, will it allow other states for such laws as when terror strikes. This might lead to balkanization of federal polity in lieu of each state calling for its special interest and laws.
Thus there is need to first tackle the security challenges by mobilizing the grassroots. There has be systematic efforts at Union and State level to tackle terror to avoid duplication and overburdening the State apparatus with more laws. It is the people residing in various states that should be seen as Citizens of one unified nation, this should be the guiding spirit of dealing with phangs of terrorism as it this common lot that is at the bearing end of ultimate causality.
