New Delhi: The controversial Communal Violence Bill, which is aimed at protecting the minorities from targeted attacks, continues to face stiff opposition from non-Congress state governments as well as parties like the BJP.
The Opposition has been unrelenting despite the Centre bringing in a few changes to the earlier draft, and also indicating it is open for more discussions, and possibly further changes, on some of the contentious issues.
The government plans to introduce the modified Bill in the coming Winter Session of Parliament that begins on Thursday.
As part of the Centre’s attempts to build a consensus, home secretary Anil Goswami, under instructions from home minister Sushilkumar Shinde, met all state home secretaries to discuss the issue.
The draft largely sticks to the provisions of the “Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill 2013” prepared by Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council.
Saying the bill infringes on the rights of the states and is against the Constitution’s federal spirit, representatives of most non-Congress state governments expressed their reservations over various provisions. The states include West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa.
Shinde said on Tuesday: “We will attempt to bring the bill to Parliament as soon as possible. Before that, however, there are a number of issues that need to be sorted out.”
Riots Bill aimed at polarising India: Jaitley
Attacking the Centre for bringing the communal violence Bill ahead of Lok Sabha polls, senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said it was “highly discriminatory” and aimed at polarising the country on communal lines.
Jaitley, leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, also lauded Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa’s opposition to the Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill for being against the federal structure and for helping initiate a public debate on the draft bill.
The Bill proposes to impose duties on the Centre and state governments and their officers to exercise powers in an impartial and non-discriminatory manner to prevent and control targeted violence, including mass violence against religious or linguistic minorities, SCs and STs.
It also proposes setting up of a National Authority for Communal Harmony, Justice and Reparation by the Centre to exercise the powers and perform functions assigned to it under this law. Some state governments have strongly opposed such a “supervisory body”.
Dismissing objections by the Opposition over certain provisions of the Bill, minority affairs minister K. Rahman Khan said such a law was the “need of the hour”. He said: “The objections are just for objections’ sake.”
