Only Home Ministry will speak on internal security matters: Centre - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

To avoid unwanted and out of turn statements on issues related to internal security as witnessed recently, the Union Government has decided that Home Ministry would play the role of nodal agency in such issues. In a letter written to all ministers and secretaries, Cabinet Secretary KM Chandrashekhar has said that only Home Ministry will speak on matters related to internal security. The latest step of the Government is believed to have come in the wake of views expressed by the Army and the Indian Air Force (IAF) Chiefs on the use of military in the ongoing anti-Naxal operations. Some of the Union Ministers also publicly expressed their views about the to use of military in Naxal operation. A day after the Dantewada incident, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram hinted on possible involvement of IAF in the anti-Naxal operations, while Air Chief Marshal P V Naik expressed views against using air power. On the same line, Army Chief General V K Singh had said there were some internal deficiencies in the way the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) carried out the Dantewada operation. While Chidambaram refuted these remarks in a veiled manner, the Home Ministry had to come out with a clarifying statement highlighting the training imparted to the CRPF personnel involved in the Dantewada operation.