From donning the police ‘khakhi’ for 42 years to accepting the saffron scarf of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), 59-year-old Gujarat-cadre IPS officer Manoj Ninama, who took voluntary retirement on April 7, put an end to speculations about his political debut as he formally joined the BJP on Thursday.
In the list of 30 candidates for the Aravalli District Panchayat released by the BJP, Ninama has been fielded from the Odh District Panchayat seat of Shamlaji taluka.
Two days after he took voluntary retirement– just a few weeks ahead of his superannuation on May 31– the former IPS officer has already begun planning his poll campaign in his home district.
The shift from policing to administration, Ninama says, is a way to have “some social life” in his post-retirement years while also raising pertinent issues of the tribal community in his home district.
Following in close friend Baranda’s footsteps
Speaking to The Indian Express on Friday, Ninama said that the foray into politics has been due to the “influence” of his close friend and former IPS officer and Gujarat Minister of State for Tribal Development, Food and Civil Supplies, and Consumer Affairs P C Baranda, who is MLA from Bhiloda Assembly constituency in the district.
Ninama said, “(P C Baranda) and I have been friends since several years, we studied together, joined the police cadre together, trained together, were promoted to IPS rank at around the same time… He decided to take VRS in 2017 but I had told him I will complete my service years… Now that I am looking at life after 60, I think some change is needed and having a social life will be good. I have been a policeman all my life.”
On his entry into the BJP, Ninama said that he had been “impressed” with the ideology of “nationalism and development” as well as the discipline followed by the BJP. “Discipline has been part of my life all through… The BJP is also a party of discipline and I liked that a lot as it is consistent with my personal values. The ideologies of nationalism and development impress me as do the works of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he said.
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Aravalli focus
Ninama added that in the upcoming election campaign– his maiden on the other side of the ring– rural development and core tribal issues of Aravalli will be in focus. Ninama’s seat of Odh village falls in the recently carved taluka of Shamlaji, which was originally a part of Bhiloda taluka — Baranda’s Assembly constituency.
Ninama says, “As you know, Shamlaji is among the newest talukas. In fact, Aravalli itself is among the newer districts of the state, which was carved out of Sabarkantha (in 2013) and there is a certain gap in the development that needs to be filled… This is because there is an apparent lack of coordination with the higher administration and so the benefits of the best government schemes do not reach the remotest places…”
Ninama adds that the district has also “lagged” in development due to the expansive territory, which was represented by “non-locals”.
“For years, the district was part of Sabarkantha. We are a 100 per cent tribal district. The area of now-Aravalli and Sabarkantha put together is vast… It also meant that the representatives were from other districts. The locals never got representation despite there being a decent literacy rate. When locals represent their regions, the pace of development improves. Those who contested from Sabarkantha in the earlier years of Congress rule were from districts of Central Gujarat…”
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Ninama says that he will put his administrative experience to use to “fill the gap” that exists in the region.
“Our taluka is close to the Rajasthan border and rural development is a big subject for the upcoming polls. From 1947 to around 2000, the district was in complete neglect… Whatever development has happened so far is after PM Modi became the Chief Minister of Gujarat in 2002. Therefore, if you compare Aravalli with districts like Anand, Kheda, Ahmedabad and Mehsana, you will see a contrast… It is true for many other tribal areas, which are newly carved districts with a challenging topography.”
He says, “My experience in administration and more over government service will come handy on the ground in order to bridge the gap with government departments… While politics will go on at the sides with the usual commentaries (teek tippanis), the core issue is the development of Aravalli, in the role that I can play from my own seat in the District Panchayat.”
Career as cop
Ninama has a career spanning over four decades– starting as a Deputy Superintendent of Police in the Gujarat Police Service with one of his early postings being in Bhuj in 2001. He was promoted to the IPS rank in 2012. During his tenure, Ninama has held several top posts in the Gujarat police department, including Superintendent of the Lajpore Jail in Surat as well as Joint Commissioner of Police, Vadodara. He was last posted as Inspector General of the Traffic Branch, Gandhinagar, at the time of his VRS. Ninama has also served as the Commandant of Group 2 of the State Reserve Police Force in Vadodara and also served in the State Intelligence Bureau.
