SOG security cover for VHP processions in Ludhiana
LUDHIANA: As many as 30 commandos of the Special Operations Group (SOG) are providing security cover to Vishwa Hindu Parishad processions being carried out across the city to garner support for building Ram temple in Ayodhya.
The processions are being carried out by Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) with the backing of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leaders.
During the processions, people are being invited for a religious congregation at Dana Mandi on December 9.
Sources in the police claimed that SOG personnel were deployed after the security agencies sounded an alert following intelligence inputs regarding the presence of Kashmiri militant Zakir Musa.
Director general of police (DGP, law and order) Hardeep Singh Dhillon, however, played down the presence of SOG commandoes.
“The SOG personnel have been deployed to give field experience. They have been deployed in Amritsar, Jalandhar and Ludhiana where processions are taking place,” said Dhillon.
The SOG personnel are trained to neutralise terrorist threats such as fidayeen attack, hostage situations and armed infiltration.
The SOG was first deployed in the city on December 2, during the Rashtriya Ekta Sammelan organised by Punjab state minority commission member Abdul Shakur Mangat at Dana Nandi.
Media in-charge of BJP’s Ludhiana unit Neeraj Verma said the security was provided following the inputs from the intelligences agencies. “We have not asked for any specific security cover,” he said.
BJP’S LAST DITCH EFFORT TO REVIVE CADRES
Marginalised after facing a drubbing in the assembly as well as the local body elections, the BJP is making a last ditch effort to revive the party cadres before the Lok Sabha elections.
The saffron party, along with RSS workers, is holding morning and evening prayer meetings for the upcoming religious congregation on December 9.