After West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee locked horns with the Union home ministry over withdrawal of Central forces in Darjeeling, the MHA has decided to clear the air over the contentious topic of deployment of Central forces in the states.
The MHA has dispatched a fresh communication to all state governments, stating that the Centre has formulated standard operating procedures (SOPs) for requisitioning paramilitary forces "for emergent and unforeseen needs, and to assist them in maintaining law and order".
These SOPs will need to be followed when DGPs and chief secretaries of states process requests for deployment of Central forces to tackle law and order issues.
The state governments have been asked to constitute committees headed by the ADGP (law and order)—including representatives of the Intelligence Bureau and Central armed police forces—to "examine and scrutinise the requirement for Central forces by keeping in view the internal security, previous scale of deployment, optimal utilisation of state resources, intelligence inputs, and availability of Central forces in nearby locations."
The MHA order is likely to spark a conflict with states, especially those ruled by the opposition Congress and TMC—the Union government will have more powers to grant or deny Central forces to states which are facing a law and order problem. With the fresh SOPs in place, even IB inputs will directly influence the government's decision.
But the MHA feels that, with the new SOP, the Central forces will be able to meet "more pressing commitments" like guarding borders, fighting insurgency, anti-naxal operations, and related needs.
The MHA's fresh directive also comes as a snub to Banerjee, who had shot off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh, expressing her displeasure at the withdrawal of forces. She had termed it a "politically and administratively bad decision".
The ministry did mince any words. "The states are reluctant to de-induct Central forces and keep requesting for an extension, which should not ordinarily be made unless there are adequate security reasons for their extension".
The home ministry also reminded states that India Reserve Battalions have been sanctioned by the Central government for this purpose alone—to make the states self-sufficient in handling law and order issues.
But despite all these mechanisms in place, the constant demands of states for Central forces have spelt out the need for an institutional mechanism for an "objective assessment" of the need.