Back-to-back statements from the Prime Minister and the Union home minister on policing in India united the Trinamul Congress, the CPM and the Congress in Bengal as those parties accused the BJP-led Centre of trying to harm the federal structure of the Constitution and underscored the fact that law and order was a state subject.

On Thursday, Union home minister Amit Shah declared the BJP-led Centre’s intent to have the National Investigation Agency’s branches in every state by 2024.

On Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi apparently backed the core idea, asserting that law and order was no longer a system that could remain confined to a particular state and it was the responsibility of every state to ensure that agencies of the Centre received total cooperation.

In his address, Modi also said that he believes the identity of police across the country ought to be identical, pitching for “one nation, one uniform”.

“This is but a suggestion, and it could take five years or 50, to implement. But let’s, at least, start thinking in that direction,” said the Prime Minister. Both Modi and Shah made the remarks while addressing the Chintan Shivir (brainstorming camp) convened by Shah’s ministry at Surajkund in Haryana.

Trinamul alleged that the proposals from the top two at the Centre “reek of autocratic tendencies and intent”.

Trinamul’s national spokesperson Sukhendu Sekhar Roy said Shah’s remarks had made it clear that the BJP-led Centre wanted to take command of everything, including law and order, the constitutional machinery and the judiciary.

Roy said Modi’s remarks on Friday was further evidence of that intent. “Today, it is for one country, one police uniform.

Tomorrow, it would be one country, one police, one bureaucracy, one party, one language, one religion. So that India’s pluralistic society turns into oneness,” said Roy.

Congress veteran Pradip Bhattacharya expressed worry over the “hidden meaning” of the statements from Modi and Shah.

“Constitutional procedures demarcate quite clearly what the states’ powers are with regard to law and order. It is absolutely a state power.”

CPM central committee member Sujan Chakraborty said Modi’s remarks were yet another “dangerous indication”.