Below is the text of the letter dated 3.6.2013 addressed by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on internal security.
Full text of the letter:
"I have received the invitation sent by the Union Home Minister to attend the Conference of Chief Ministers on Internal Security on 5th June, 2013, which you would be presiding over. The Conference of Chief Ministers on Internal Security is, no doubt, a very important event since it concerns the primary function of the State viz maintenance of Public Order.
It is my experience, however, that this Conference held by the Centre has become an annual ritualistic exercise where very little opportunity is given to the Chief Ministers to express their views on all items in the Agenda. This Conference too, carries a long and weighty Agenda of 12 subjects. Uttering just their titles would in itself take 10 minutes which, unfortunately, is the time being cavalierly allotted to the Chief Ministers to present their views.
As Chief Ministers of democratically elected State Governments, we are equal partners with the Union Government in governance and expect to be able to make meaningful contributions to the discussions, so that the Centre is made aware of the true situation on the ground. Only this will enable us to formulate policies and allocate resources based on real need. Under the present dispensation at the Centre, the Conferences with Chief Ministers on important issues have been reduced to a routinised ritual, rather than a consultative process, with the Chief Ministers being constantly guillotined to cut short their speeches.
The current exercise too seems to be aimed at merely assembling the Chief Ministers of States to rubber stamp some measures pre-decided by the Government of India without adequately considering the views of the States. Further, the Chief Ministers are taken for granted and treated casually as was apparent at the last National Development Council Meeting held on 27th December, 2012, when I was forced to cut short my speech midway by a so-called time restriction, effected in a humiliating manner by ringing a bell.
Rather than attending a Conference where Chief Ministers are being rail-roaded to finish their speeches within 10 minutes and to merely lay a speech on the table, I am deputing a senior Minister of the State Cabinet, Thiru KP Munusamy, the Hon'ble Minister for Municipal Administration, Rural Development, Law, Courts and Prisons, the Home Secretary and the Director General of Police to attend the Conference on my behalf. I have given the most earnest consideration to all the Agenda items and my speech gives the detailed views of Tamil Nadu on all the subjects listed in the Agenda.
The Hon'ble Minister will deliver my speech at the Conference, which may kindly be taken on record.
Comments
0 comment