Lapse in PM’S security: A brazen breach of norms
Let me begin with a pertinent story, though I am not sure of its veracity. Former United States (US) President Lyndon Johnson was once walking outside the White House on a foggy morning. Given the low visibility, a passerby collided with him. The man asked the president who he was. Johnson answered that he was trying to figure that out.
The passerby, assuming that he was talking to someone crazy, pointed to the White House and asked sarcastically, “Do you know who lives there?” Johnson answered that no one lived there permanently, that the occupants came and went. How true this is of those who hold statutory posts and who are not greater than the institutions they represent.
What happened during the Punjab visit of the Prime Minister (PM) of the world’s most populous democracy is a brazen violation of established norms and conventions. It reminds us that we lost a sitting PM and a former one on account of poor security protocols. That this happened to PM Narendra Modi in the border state of Punjab is even more worrying and unprecedented. In 2018, Modi’s convoy was stuck for a while in Delhi. In December 2017, during the inauguration of the metro in Noida, his convoy lost its way due to a lapse on the part of the local police for which strict action was taken against those responsible. This time around, apart from fixing accountability, necessary amendments have to be made to the “Blue Book” maintained by the Intelligence Bureau (IB).
Union information and broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur has rightly spoken of exemplary action, even as the Punjab government has been trying to shift the blame from the onset. The statements by chief minister (CM) Charanjit Singh Channi are proof of this.
Our country is a multiparty democracy.
The party in power at the Centre is often not the same governing a state. In fact, some states are governed by bitter opponents of the party in power at the Centre. Due to divergent ideologies, the conflict between the state and Centre has often been driven by personal egos and animosities. This does not bode well for the federal structure of the country.
Before and during the elections in West Bengal last year, we witnessed some worrying scenes. The Bengal police held some Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officers captive for a few hours. The car of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’S president, JP Nadda, was attacked. Even today, many BJP leaders in the state have the protection of the central paramilitary forces though this is the state government’s job. Since the police in many states work on the instructions of the CM, allegations of misuse of power are rampant across several states.
It is not that the Centre is blameless. The CBI, the Enforcement Directorate, and the Income Tax (IT) department have been misused by successive central governments. There’s a new weapon, the directorate-general of GST Intelligence. This agency had raided perfume dealer Piyush Jain in Kanpur. The recovery of ₹177.45 crore should have been commended, but the opposite happened. It resulted in political mudslinging between the BJP and Samajwadi Party (SP). A few days later, IT officials raided SP Member of the Legislative Council Pushpraj ‘Pampi’ Jain. The Opposition has often alleged that the Union government uses these agencies against its affiliates during elections. Narendra Modi himself, as CM of Gujarat, was once a victim of this.
There was undoubtedly a clear violation of procedure during the PM’S visit to Punjab. The Punjab government should have acted in an open-minded fashion but clearly, electoral considerations took precedence. CM Channi constituted a commission of inquiry, and then politicised the incident. The BJP also did the same thing.
The Union home ministry has also constituted a high-level inquiry committee, and the Supreme Court has issued an order on Friday and sought reports from all officials and agencies concerned. Until then, all investigations will be put on hold. Further proceedings will start on Monday, but the political pot on this issue will be kept boiling.
Here I would like to recall the sentiment of a security expert from the US. After an attack on the then US President Ronald Regan in 1992, he said that security managers should always recognise that the “subject” is like a fragile glass in your palm.
All the forces of the world, including your dear ones, may want to break it. You have to protect it, knowing that it can break at any time. Needless to say, since then, no US President was attacked in the same manner. We must learn from this in India.