In line with its stance of “zero tolerance” for terrorism, the Narendra Modi administration made every effort to strengthen investigative agencies like the NIA and anti-terror laws, according to Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday.
By May 2024, he predicted, every state will have a branch of the National Investigation Agency.
The home minister was speaking at the opening of the NIA’s Raipur branch office building in the Atal Nagar neighbourhood of Nava Raipur.
Because of its “zero tolerance policy against Left Wing Extremism, terrorism, and other related crimes, including fake currency and drugs,” the Modi administration “left no stone unturned” in strengthening the NIA, he said.
According to Mr. Shah, the BJP-led Union government has also improved anti-terror laws, shared information about terrorism with state governments regardless of the party in power there, strengthened anti-terror investigation organisations, and increased the conviction rate for such crimes.
“In accordance with this (policy), our government made efforts to fortify the NIA. “I am pleased that the conviction rate in cases handled by the NIA has increased to 94% from 75% in 2014,” he said.
The Union minister claimed that since taking office, the government has worked to eradicate terrorism from Kashmir.
“After Article 370 was repealed, peace was observed in Kashmir, and as of right now, our agencies there have been successful in stopping terrorist activities. It was made possible because the NIA prosecuted those responsible for funding terrorism harshly in 2018, 2019, and 2020. He added, “There were 105 cases (of funding for terrorism) in total, 876 people were detained, and 94 cases resulted in the filing of charge sheets.”
According to Mr. Shah, the government has also vowed to eradicate Left Wing Extremism, which is currently only present in a few districts across the nation.
“Earlier, LWE’s influence was spread to 120 districts, but it has now shrunk to only 46 districts. In Chhattisgarh, there are some districts that are still struggling with the menace, but I firmly believe that the Central and state governments will jointly eliminate it,” he said.
