Gujarat Chief Minister Shri Narendra Modi has written to the Chief Ministers of several Indian states on the issue of the Prevention of Communal Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill, 2013, which the Central Government plans to introduce in the ongoing Parliament session. In his letter, Shri Modi has called upon his counterparts to deliberate on the issue, take up the matter with the Central Government and opposite this Bill. Shri Modi wrote that it is important for all Chief Ministers to rise beyond political affiliations and come together to oppose the Bill, which is nothing but a blatant attempt by the Centre to interfere with and intrude upon the powers of elected State Governments.
Shri Modi emphasized on how the Communal Violence Bill would polarize society on religious and linguistic lines and would introduce the idea of differential application of criminal law to citizens based on religious and linguistic identities. He wrote about how the Bill would demoralize public savants and even impact how the state government can deal with law and order situations in future.
The Chief Ministers Shri Modi wrote to include Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh), Shri Prithviraj Chavan (Maharashtra), Shri Okram Ibobi Singh (Manipur), Dr. Mukul Sangma (Meghalaya) among others.
Earlier Shri Narendra Modi had written to the Honourable Prime Minister of India expressing his strong opposition to the Bill. In a comprehensive letter to the Prime Minister, he listed the grounds on which he opposed the Bill and even pointed out the various sections of the Bill that were flawed. He had described the Bill as ill conceived, a recipe for disaster and added that it was driven by votebank politics not genuine concern for society at large.
