Nitish Defends Police Act; Slams Opposition
Patna: Mar. 31, 2007
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, after a session of PowerPoint presentation created by the Home Secretary Afzal Amanullah to highlight the salient features of the new Police Act on Saturday, said that the opposition was raising a big hue and cry over the Police Act for the sake of opposing anything that the NDA government introduces.
"These people have lost credibility in the eyes of the people of Bihar by opposing everything without even first trying to understand what the issue is all about. They are opposing for the sake of opposing and that's not the role of a good opposition," the Chief Minister said.
"Corruption at any level will not be tolerated and the police is being given enough power to deal with the cases of corruption. The opposition is apparently afraid that the new Act would be used against them but they could not be any further from the truth," he said at a press conference following the PowerPoint presentation at the meeting hall at Patna Secretariat.
He also blamed the opposition for spreading false information about the Act saying it did not 'diminish' or curtail the powers of senior officials as being talked about in the police fraternity.
Amanullah, during his presentation, assured the police that there was no provision in the Act that diminished the power of the District Magistrates, the Superintendents of Police (SPs), or other senior officials as rumored by some politicians.
Meanwhile, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and the leader of the opposition in Bihar Assembly Rabri Devi continued to call the new Police Act a 'Black Act' designed to institute a 'police raj' in the state.
"This is unconstitutional and we will ask the Governor to intervene in it and ask him to review the new Act," Rabri Devi said.
Incidentally, the Governor, on Friday, had given a green signal to the new Act while also praising the NDA government for taking steps to bring reform in the police department.
Former RJD and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Shankar Prasad Tekriwal who is currently without a party following his resignation from the primary membership of the BSP a few days ago, vowed to launch a statewide agitation against the police Act saying it proved that Nitish Kumar was a dictator who wanted to crush the rights of all for the sake of enjoying unfettered power in the state.
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