Chidambaram abdicating his duties: BJP

New Delhi, Sep 13 (PTI) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
Tuesday joined issue with Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram
over his comments that fighting terrorism was more a state
responsibility, saying he was abdicating his duties as the
menace was spread over ten states and a coordinated effort was
required to combat it.
"As long as Chidambaram is on the scene, we will keep
hearing of new terminologies everyday. So far no arrest has
been made in the Delhi blast case, so how can one even talk of
punishing the guilty," BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar
said.
The Home Minister had earlier stated at a programme in
the capital that fighting terrorism was primarily the
responsibility of the states. He maintained that Left wing
extremism was more a matter of concern than any other form of
terror activity.
BJP was, however, not convinced with Chidambaram's
arguments and maintained that since terrorism was prevalent in
more than one state and had inter-state ramifications, the
Centre should be held accountable for dealing with it.
"I want to tell Chidambaram that this is not about
responsibility of any one state. There is terrorism in several
states. Why is not a unified strategy? More than ten states
are involved. He is just advising the Chief Ministers and
abdicating his responsibility," Javadekar said.
The Rajya Sabha (upper house of Indian parliament) MP
described terrorism as a "war against the state".
In reply to a question on north Indian state Jammu and
Kashmir Assembly mulling over passing a resolution against the
death sentence to Indian Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru,
Javadekar said terrorism cannot be condoned in one state and
punished in another.
"Terrorism is terrorism. Whether it is state A or state
B, one cannot differentiate between states or on the basis of
religion, region, caste and the like," he said.