Sadly, the NCTC is now caught in a web of politics, with over a dozen Chief Ministers ranging from Gujarat to Tripura going hammer and tongs against it, describing it as being an anathema to federalism. Mamata Banerjee, who seems unable to mould herself out of the role of an Opposition force despite being in power, has now taken the lead by, you guessed it, blackmailing the Union Government of which her party is a part.
The fact of the matter is that states have failed to controlled terrorism and that's not entirely their own fault. Of course, a sloppy security mechanism is a problem, but terrorism is such that no single state can stop it on their own and a coordinated response from the entire country is required. Which is precisely where the NCTC comes in. The idea is taken from the US NCTC, and the US is a far more federal nation that our own. It is based on the military concept of one command centre, which is wholly necessary to end terrorism that does not recognize inter-state borders.
By invoking federalism -which itself is poorly defined in the Constitution - the states have done a disservice by politicizing the NCTC. The problem, of course, is also with the Home Ministry, which has not done enough to reassure the states. But that does not mean that it should ditch the concept itself, which took years to put in place and is the very centre of Chidambaram's anti-terrorism plan for India. While it is important to reassure states that only what is best for the country will be done, the Union Government must not back down from the NCTC and particularly not on the premise of federalism.
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