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Security or a Mere Status Symbol?
Can you believe, I shook hands with the Prime Minister of India
on the road side? I am certain, you won't. 'With so many
gun-trotting security men around him, how could any one so
casually do this?', is what you think. The year was 1953. The
Prime Minister was Jawaharlal Nehru. I was a High School Student
in the now Kanyakumari District, which was then a part of
Travancore. The Prime Ministerial motorcade halted in front of
our School and about ten of us shook hands with our beloved
Chacha Nehru.
I have seen Rajaji sitting in his car, with
all four doors open at the Marina beach on many an evening in
the sixties.. He used to interact with the beach-goers. I have
had the occasion of meating Arignar Anna and Mu Karunanidhi at
very close quarters in an ordinary Lodge in Royapettah, where
they had come to have a look at the portrait of Thiruvalluvar.
The year? 1967.
All that is history. None of our compatriots
today can have such pleasures. For, our leaders are alienated
from us, thanks to a high security cordon. And, all the talk of
reviewing and rightsizing (read downsizing) the security cover
for the country’s VVIPs seems to be having just the opposite
effect — the number of persons provided protection by the Centre
has actually gone up and in Delhi alone, nearly four hundred
VIPs are given security cover. Most of them are in the Y
category and some in Z category, depending on the threat
perception. Apart from personal security officers (PSOs), they
are also given house guards.
The Delhi Court once termed VVIP security
“distasteful, obtrusive and obnoxious for the common people”. It
had directed the Ministry to inform it of instances where
security threats had been “overplayed. The response of the
Ministry was on expected lines. It said it was in the process of
a comprehensive review of VIP security. The review will be
eternally incomplete!
It is in ths context that we have to look at
the latest threat perception for our dear leader Lal Kishen
Advaniji. The National Security adviser M K Narayanan himself
conveyed this 'credible intelligence information ' to Advani.
And, Advani decided not to go ahead with the major rally planned
at Rampur in Uttar Pradesh for Saturday.
And so, the people's leaders are unable to
meet, let alone mingle with, the public. I am not suggesting for
a moment that we should throw all security arrangements to the
wind. However, presently I believe things are going too far and
a time will soon come when the public will be able to see their
dear leaders only on the TV screen.
It is for those interested in true democracy
to deliberate on this.
H Ramakrishnan
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