The Nationalist Congress Party has indicated its displeasure over the proposed Prevention of Communal and Violence Protection Bill which has been close to the heart of Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

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Interestingly, several alliance partners supporting the Congress coalition government in the UPA government have opposed the Bill. The most vocal has been the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress. Some of the leaders representing the DMK and the National Conference (NC) have also expressed reservations to the Bill in its current form.

State home minister RR Patil said, “We have some reservations, which would be conveyed by the central leadership. The party feels we have to debate the Bill at length before endorsing it.” 

Emphasising that the party and the state government favours communal harmony, he said: “It would be unfair to presume that the Bill was aimed at targeting any particular community.”

He said, “If we go by presumptions that majority Hindus are the target in states like Gujarat or Maharashtra. Then we should not lose sight of the fact that in Kashmir the Hindus would be in minority. Or in several northeatern states, Christians would be in majority etc.”

Another senior NCP leader said, “The alliance partners fear that the Congress is likely to misuse the Bill to control the state. How does one distinguish between the violence that comes under state law and order from Centre’s perception of communal violence which would invite the central Act.”

Ironically, voices of discord also emanating from across the country. The BJP is opposing the Bill, which it feared was being pushed to harass the Gujarat government. Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has also dismissed the Bill as dangerous. The argument is the Congress government at the Centre will use the Bill to usurp state powers.