Modi attacks Sonia Gandhi-led NAC on communal violence bill

Lucknow, June 4: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today (June 4) accused the Sonia Gandhi-led NAC of drafting a "perverse" and "ill-conceived" bill to tackle communal violence which, he claimed, portrays that the majority community is "always the perpetrator".

Moving a resolution at the BJP National Executive Meet here, Modi also accused the UPA government of posing a grave threat to the federal structure of the country by making "hostile, insidious and politically colorable" attacks on opposition-ruled states.

The resolution states that Congress-led UPA was "diminishing financial support" to the BJP and NDA ruled states, misusing Governors as political agents to harass the regimes, and forming bodies like National Investigation Agency (NIA) which are acting against the "federal spirit".

The BJP alleged that the National Advisory Council, headed by Gandhi, is contributing to "usurping of powers of states by the Centre."

"NAC has drafted a perverse legislation -- the Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill. It is ill-conceived and it proceeds with an assumption that the majority community is always the perpetrator of communal violence. Reverse discrimination in its worst form," the resolution stated.

It also accused the Centre of "misusing" the NIA.

"By setting up the National Investigation Agency the Central Government now obviously wants to take upon itself the responsibility of fighting terror by sidetracking the states," Modi said.

Modi has had a running feud with the Centre on the Sohrabuddin encounter and other cases. He alleged that NIA has taken away the law-making powers of the states.

PTI