The institution of the Prime Minister of India is perched at the pinnacle of the biggest democracy of the world. The hallmark of the finest democracies is that they preserve, protect and respect the highest democratic institutions of their country. The Prime Minister is the pride of India but he is also envy of many forces inimical to interests of India therefore PM Narendra Modi also has one of the highest threat perceptions in the world.
PM Modi being left stranded in middle of a flyover a few kilometres from the Pakistan border and a few metres away from a group of hostile protestors having armaments for an inordinate period of 20 minutes is a shocking and egregious breach of the national security. Entire convoy was vulnerable to sniper fire, drone attacks or being overwhelmed by a hostile mob every moment of those 20 minutes on the flyover. One would shudder to think what may have happened had the crucial information reached to the terrorists a few kilometers across the border. It was not only Modi the individual who was exposed to this grave risk but the Prime Minister of India and entire edifice of India’s democracy was under threat. As a nation, India cannot afford such instances to be repeated thus accountability has to be ensured, responsibility has to be fixed and stern action needs to be taken.
The breach of security in Prime Minister’s entourage on January 5 is a matter of national security and it cannot be trivialised. Worse, petty politics by Congress whose government in Punjab was primarily responsible for this breach, has further aggravated the matter. The state police, which had to provide the security apparatus and secure the route is responsible not only for dereliction of duty but also seems involved in a conspiracy to compromise the security of the PM. The active connivance of the state administration and machinery in this episode will be evident from some of the following instances.
It was astounding to see Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi saying that his government had no intimation that the Prime Minister can move by road; but it became even more bewildering when he contradicted himself in the same press conference saying he worked till 3 am in the night, convincing farmers to clear all road routes.
The protestors admitted on camera that they were informed by the state police about the top secret movement of the Prime Minister. In fact, the state police were seen sipping tea with the protestor’s minutes before the arrival of Prime Minister on that flyover. It was astonishing to see animation videos depicting an attack on Prime Minister in exactly the similar terms posted on YouTube by these protesting organisations more than a year ago.
The Special Protection Group (SPG) provides the close proximity security to the Prime Minister; the detailed plan is discussed with the state police and other agencies whenever the PM is visiting a state. According to the ‘blue book’, it is the duty of the state police to sanitise and secure the route in which the Punjab state police abysmally failed. In fact, the Prime Minister’s convoy in any state moves only after specific clearance and permission from the police chief of the concerned state. It was shocking that in this case, the director general of police, chief and home secretaries who are expected to accompany the PM’s convoy as per the protocol and whose cars were already earmarked in the convoy chose not to accompany the Prime Minister. This would clearly turn the needle of suspicion towards the fact that they were conscious of this pre-meditated conspiracy to block and sabotage the convoy.
When the PM moved by road, the state police could have easily deployed a drone a few kilometers ahead of the convoy, which was also not done. Any VVIP convoy has to be fast-moving to ensure they are not subjected to sniper fire or drone attacks because it becomes sitting duck if stranded. A flyover can also be assaulted by a bomb attack from below.
Till the next day, the Punjab police did not even register an FIR let alone conducting an enquiry. When the state government realised that Supreme Court is taking this matter and will pass appropriate orders then they instituted an inquiry, which seems a cosmetic gesture to control the damage as the common people of India expressed their shock and dismay at the attitude of Congress and its leadership in state and at central level in this case.
In this regard, one silver lining that emerged was that a Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana ordered immediate confiscation and seizure of all records pertaining to movement of the Prime Minister with direction to the police and National Investigation Agency chiefs to ensure the same otherwise that could have been also altered and tampered with.
Undoubtedly, such a conspiracy to sabotage the PM’s security amounts to sabotage of the national security. If Prime Minister’s security can be compromised in a state in this manner, then the same risk stands for other high-level constitutional functionaries, including the international dignitaries as they move around the country. One would dread to think if such instances are repeated in top national and international visits for cheap publicity and politics what would be the image of our country.
We hope that this incident remains an exception and doesn’t become a precedent. The Opposition is in such a desperation and frustration in their failure to politically match Prime Minister Narendra Modi that they seem to be ready to stoop to any level, even to the extent of compromising the security of Prime Minister of India.
In fact, the credibility of the Opposition has reached a nadir with this incident in Punjab when Congress leaders gleefully cheered as the security breach of Prime Minister of India took place. Some other opposition leaders also joined this chorus. This doesn’t augur well for world’s biggest democracy. Governments will come and go, political parties will win and lose, but everyone is the country should swear to only one mantra — ‘Nation First’.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has demonstrated with his actions and track record in the public life and governance, the highest level of commitment of ‘Nation First’. What happened on January 5 demonstrated that the ruling Congress party of Punjab has no commitment to this ‘mantra’. It is more committed to politicking even if that is at the cost of national security.
The writer is a practising senior advocate at the Supreme Court of India. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication.
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