Home Minister gets a pat from Prime Minister

New Delhi, Mar 8 (UNI) Opposition's whipping boy Home Minister Shivraj Patil today came in for handsome praise from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his ''enviable record'' of providing internal security across the country -- be it Jammu and Kashmir, the North-East or the Naxalite menace.

''Our government and the Home Minister have an enviable record as compared to the previous government in dealing with the problems of Jammu and Kashmir, the North-East and the Naxalite menace,'' Dr Singh said, while replying in the Rajya Sabha to the motion of thanks on the President's Address to Parliament.

Rejecting the opposition charge that the UPA government was soft-pedalling terrorism, he said figures showed that internal security was much better now than it was during the NDA rule.

Above all, it had ensured that, unlike in the past, terror attacks did not give rise to communal violence.

Dr Singh also took a gentle swipe at BJP leader Jaswant Singh for his observation that ''terrorists should be terrorised'' in order to curb the menace stalking the country.

''While talking tough sounds good, we should not be oblivious of ground realities. We must not brutalise our police and society,'' he said and wanted to know from the opposition whether POTA was effective in preventing the attack on Akshardham temple in Ahmedabad and other incidents in Jammu.

UNI