Opinion Questions From Mathura

Since early 2014 a fringe outfit — abusing the name of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and calling themselves the Swadheen Bharat Subhash Sena — usurped a large chunk of land belonging to the state horticulture department in Jawahar Bagh. They were acting under the tutelage of Ram Vriksha Yadav, who had attracted nearly 3000 people from several parts of the Hindi heartland. They had also managed to amass firearms and store over a thousand LPG cylinders inside the encroached property — items that would be used in their attack against the policemen on June 2. How did they manage to get their hands on sophisticated weapons?

Police also found incriminating documents — evidence that needs to be closely examined. Was there a hidden agenda to act against the government on the lines of sedition? Was there a blueprint to propagate a separate cult as envisaged long back for a controversial sect like
Anand Marga?

The state government has been blissfully ignorant about everything and several suspicions abound. Did authorities deliberately turn a blind eye to the anti-social activities of this so-called “sena” possibly also due to the district magistrate’s alleged proximity to the Samajwadi Party heavyweight Ram Gopal Yadav?

It was only thanks to a high court order that the police was forced to act and when they did, they faced a violent and brutal backlash — something they hadn’t anticipated since the threat had been ignored for far too long. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav stated that police went unprepared but then he should also tell who should be held accountable for this unpreparedness? Is the CM squarely blaming the police, as politicians often conveniently do? The DGP of UP, Javed Ahmed, is reported to have said the police knew the encroachers were in possession of weapons but they didn’t know they would be fired upon? Has anyone heard anything as bizarre from the senior-most police officer of the state?

Let us come to the intelligence part now. Every district has a local intelligence unit (LIU) headed by a deputy SP- or an SP-level officer. The LIU is the eyes and ears of the district police chief. How could the free flow of arms to Jawahar Bagh and the swelling number of goons to over three thousand go unnoticed by the LIU? As per rules, they are duty bound to submit a daily report, in writing, to their superior. Assum-ing they did, then why was no preventive action taken? Was the intelligence lacking because of political reasons and thus, officers turned a blind eye? The intelligence bureau (IB), too, has its presence in every district of the country and its task is to alert the Union home ministry in case of any perceived threats. We don’t know if Delhi or Lucknow were alerted.

Remember, UP is heading for elections in 2017 and if this is the quality of our existing intelligence infrastructure then we have much to worry about. It is a sensitive state and even the slightest of sparks can snowball into a massive blaze. One should not lose sight of the communal atmosphere in areas such as Aligarh, Meerut, Moradabad, Sambhal, Muzaffarnagar among several others. It’s a time when netas will look to whip up sentiments to polarise opinions and a well-functioning intelligence machinery is a must.