The Manmohan Singh government's first major decision will be to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
The decision is likely to be taken soon after the Council of Ministers is sworn in.
The scrapping of POTA has been one of the most vehement demands of the Congress' allies -- notably the Left, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, whose leader Vaiko was imprisoned under POTA.
Interestingly, POTA was enacted when the DMK and MDMK were part of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in June 2002.
The outgoing government had claimed that the law would help tackle terrorism.
Vaiko spent nearly 20 months in Tamil Nadu's Vellore Central Jail after the Jayalalithaa government arrested him on charges of making pro-Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam speeches.
On Wednesday, during his meeting with Congress President Sonia Gandhi, DMK President M Karunanidhi agreed to join the government after she reportedly assured him that POTA would be done away with.
According to the Union home ministry, 702 people have so far been arrested under POTA.
Also Read: Jharkhand has more POTA detenues than J&K!
The ministry's records reveal that most of those arrested have been poor agricultural workers, Dalits, landless tribals, farmers, students, Naxalites, and villagers who support Naxalite groups.
© 2025