New Delhi: Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday asked the Congress party to look at their past while invoking reference of the emergency period during a discussion in Rajya Sabha on the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2019.
Shah assured the House that taking tough measures against terror does not mean taking action against any individual or government.
Launching a scathing attack against Congress, Shah said, “What happened during emergency? All media was banned, all opposition leaders were jailed. There was no democracy for 19 months, and you are accusing us of misusing laws? Kindly look at your past”
Rejecting objections raised by Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram regarding amendments in the UAPA Bill, Shah said, ” Chidambaram ji asked why to name an individual as a terrorist when the organisation they are affiliated to is already banned. It is because we ban one organisation, another one comes up by the same individuals. Till when will we keep banning organisations?”
He also took a dig at former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh and claimed that he was angry because of losing the elections.
“Digvijaya Singh ji seems angry, it is natural, he just lost elections…he said ‘in 3 cases of NIA no one was punished.’ I will tell you why, because earlier in these cases political vendetta was done and attempt was made to link a particular religion to terror,” said Shah.
The Home Minister also reminded the House about BJP’s stand on UAPA amendment while it was in opposition and said the party always supported a strict stand against terror.
“When we were in opposition, we supported previous UAPA amendments, be it in 2004, 2008 or 2013 as we believe all should support tough measures against terror. We also believe that terror has no religion, it is against humanity, not against a particular government or individual”, Shah told the Upper House.
Soon after Shah’s address, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) amendments bill was passed in Rajya Sabha.
The Bill seeks to further amend the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, empowering the central government to designate individuals as terrorists if the person commits or participates, promotes or involved in acts of terrorism.
Under the existing laws, the government could only designate organisations, and not individuals, as terrorists.
The Bill also empowers the Director-General of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to grant approval of seizure or attachment of property when the case is investigated by the agency.