CMs express concern over IS attacks, radicalisation in India

The Inter-State Council called for dealing with terrorism with an iron fist during its meeting on Saturday that saw Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging chief ministers to keep politics aside when dealing with security issues.

The Inter-State Council called for dealing with terrorism with an iron fist during its meeting on Saturday that saw Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging chief ministers to keep politics aside when dealing with security issues.

Chief ministers of various states attend the 11th Inter-State Council meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in New Delhi on Saturday.(PTI)

Several chief ministers also expressed concern at the growing radicalisation, with Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh stressing on the need for a national de-radicalisation policy.

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan wanted the Centre to check the misuse of social media.

The two chief ministers of BJP-ruled states also nudged the Centre to quickly operationalise the National Intelligence Grid, a brainchild of former home minister P Chidambaram.

“The misuse of social media needs to be checked and there has to be a real-time intelligence gathering and sharing mechanism between the Centre and the states,” he said.

In his remarks, Modi too had focussed on intelligence sharing and greater coordination among agencies, pointing that internal security could not be strengthened without paying more attention to this aspect. “We must constantly remain alert and updated,” he said.

Wrapping up the day-long deliberations later, Modi emphasised that the Centre as well as states could not ignore what is happening across the world, a reference to attacks by the Islamic State (IS) in several parts of the world.

Modi also underscored the need for maintaining a visible presence of police forces on the ground, and underscored the importance of a good CCTV network in curbing crime.

Chouhan also echoed Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s disappointment with the home ministry rule that requires states to make “advance payment” before seeking central police forces to maintain law and order. Kumar had urged Modi to “shun this commercial approach” and get down to fulfilling its constitutional mandate.