Now Digvijaya takes aim at home ministry over Arms Act

Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Wednesday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with MPs from different parties to oppose the amendments to the Arms Act as proposed by the home ministry.

Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Wednesday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with MPs from different parties to oppose the amendments to the Arms Act as proposed by the home ministry.

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The team alleged the changes undermined the citizen's right to keep weapons.

After the Naxalite issue, this is another point the Congress general secretary and Home Minister P. Chidambaram don't see eye-to-eye on.

The delegation including Jaswant Singh, S.S. Ahluwalia and Shahnawaz Hussain (BJP), Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh (SP), Naveen Jindal, Anil Lad, Sanjay Singh, Fransisco Sardinhia, Manish Tewari and Rakesh Singh (all Congress) later submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister.

Singh led the delegation in his capacity as patron-in-chief of the National Association for Gun Rights India.

In the memorandum, the MPs alleged in the "guise of moving a minor amendment" to the Arms Act, ostensibly to make police verification mandatory and creating a database, the home ministry has "quietly moved to change other important aspects of the law with the goal of undermining every citizen's legal right to keep and bear arms".

"The ministry through its new policy has in effect changed the law and how it is implemented, without seeking parliamentary approval or following proper procedures."