Gujarat chief minister has said that the centre is treating the state like an 'enemy-nation'. While the phrase may sound like an exaggeration, does it have ring of truth?

As reported by the Hindu, Modi has claimed that shifting trials of cases from the state's courts to elsewhere was tantamount to insulting the judiciary in the state. The transferring of cases does insinuate a biased judiciary, at the worst, or a judiciary under pressure or prone to influence, at the best. It also reflects badly on the Supreme Court as high courts' judges appointments are made by the apex court. A lack of faith in the judiciary of states' courts could be read as discrediting the SC's judiciousness.

Taking up the cudgels on behalf of the state's police, which has suffered a battering after charges were laid against some of its top cops in the Sohrabuddin false encounter case, Modi said that the Mumbai court which was hearing the Bilkis Bano and the Best Bakery case, convicted the accused who had been charge-sheeted and arrested by the Gujarat police, while acquiting those accused by the CBI. The fact raises serious concerns about the efficacy of the CBI's handling  of the cases in the state. The number of cases under CBI investigation in the state, however, keeps on rising.

The CM, mouthing angst, said that the Centre is being vindictive and jealous as the state has excelled in governance. He said that if the Centre had anything against him, it was free to act but it should not drag the "people, the police and the judiciary of Gujarat" into its "vendetta".

However, Congress, the opposition in the state, has chosen to dismiss Modi's version of things as the desperate moves of the BJP to save face in the state after its home minister Amit Shah was arrested in connection with the fake encounter case. The state Congress president Siddhartha Patel said that the chief minister was unnecessarily getting the prople of Gujarat  involved to "take the fight to the streets" over Shah's arrest, and should instead "be ashamed" of his home minister's arrest.

While both the Congress makes the right noises and posturings, is the state getting a raw deal? Is the Centre biased against Gujarat?