Maha govt fumes after Ranaut gets Y+ security
NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: The Union government provided Y-plus category security to actor Kangana Ranaut on Monday, two days before she was expected to return to Mumbai in the midst of a raging controversy triggered by her remarks likening the city to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and subsequent protests by Maharashtra’s ruling Shiv Sena.
Ranaut will be guarded by 10-11 armed commandos of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) round the clock in three shifts wherever she travels across the nation, according to officials aware of the developments. The actor, who is in her home state of Himachal Pradesh, thanked Union home minister Amit Shah and said “no one can crush a patriot”.
While the Maharashtra government appeared “surprised” over the move, and raised the pitch against the national awardwinning actor, the Congress — its partner in state’s ruling alliance — alleged that Ranaut was carrying forward the political agenda of the Centre’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“The Centre’s move to provide security to people who insult Mumbai and Maharashtra is surprising and also sad,” Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh said.
Even as a debate raged over Ranaut’s VIP security, a fresh row broke out after the actor shared on Twitter videos purportedly showing Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials at her office premises in Mumbai. She said employees of the Sena-ruled civic body may demolish the property on Tuesday.
BMC officials said they were acting on a complaint. “...there were some deviations including an illegal extension of the office. Also, this property was converted from residential to commercial. Measurements of her office were taken and a report will be submitted in the next two days to top officials,” said an official who did not want to be named.
Ranaut’s recent remarks that she felt unsafe in Mumbai after the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput and a September 3 tweet
asking why Mumbai was felt like it was PoK — it was posted in response to Sena’s Sanjay Raut purportedly advising her not to visit the city if she was afraid of the city’s police — have drawn sharp condemnation by a section of Sena leaders, who allege she is insulting the city and its police force. Ranaut has also said she may require security from Himachal Pradesh police or the Centre, but will not accept protection from the Mumbai Police to expose an alleged “drug mafia in Bollywood”.
With the Centre approving Y+ security for Ranaut, at least three Personnel Security Officers (PSOs) will accompany the actor 24x7 and one security officer will be deployed at her residence in Mumbai, according to the officials. She will also get an escort vehicle for her security personnel. Ranaut is the first Bollywood celebrity to be guarded by CRPF, which protects about 60 dignitaries, including Shah, Congress leaders Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and Chief Justice of India SA Bobde. The government will pay for her VIP security cover, said the officials cited above.
High-risk individuals are given security (subject to periodic review) on the basis of threat assessment done by government agencies. The categories are broadly divided into four tiers — Z+ (highest level), Z, Y and X — depending on threat perception.
In Mumbai, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said some people did not have gratitude for the city where they earn their livelihood — a remark widely interpreted as a jibe at Ranaut. “Many people from other states come to Mumbai. Work here for livelihood and get fame. Some of them are grateful but some are not,” he said in the assembly, speaking on a condolence motion. Thackeray did not name Ranaut.
At a virtual press conference, Congress’s chief spokesperson, Randeep Singh Surjewala, said the Sena-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)-Congress coalition will ensure adequate protection to her “despite a particular film actress carrying on with the agenda of (Prime Minister Narendra) Modiji and the BJP”. “To describe the business capital of the country as PoK is naive, incorrect, political opportunism and reprehensible which no reasonable person will accept. We reject such unfounded and politically motivated allegations being hurled through film actresses by BJP,” he said.
Back in Mumbai, BJP leader and former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said Ranaut made a wrong statement, but it was the responsibility of the government to protect her in a land of law. “...though we (the BJP) are not supporting what Kangana Ranaut said, and nobody will support it, still it is the responsibility of the government (to protect her),” the Leader of Opposition in the legislative assembly told reporters.