IN A first, police personnel deployed inside the sanctum sanctorum of Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi have begun sporting dhoti and kurta while managing the crowd “as a mark of respect for the sentiments of worshippers”. This was after the Varanasi police directed its personnel to sport civilian clothing while regulating traffic inside the small sanctum sanctorum. Being a highly sensitive place of worship, the temple falls in the “red zone” of the police’s security risk list. The police personnel have been sporting yellow kurtas and white dhotis since Monday, Kashi Mishra, a priest said. “This has been done for the time being because worshippers and the temple authorities were feeling uncomfortable in the presence of men in uniform. We have been receiving complaints. and we must respect their sentiments,” said Varanasi IG Deepak Ratan said. Maintaining that the police uniform was unsettling “deeply religious people” in worship, Ratan added: “Usually, for law and order duty, police personnel ought to be in uniform. But there are times. when according to the situation, like when on VIP security duty, police personnel are asked to wear civilian clothing. There is no bar or rule on when police can and cannot sport civilian clothing.” “Police personnel can sport any form of civilian clothing, not necessarily dhoti and kurta, which suits the atmosphere of worship in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple,” Ratan added. Around three or four police personnel are usually deployed inside the sanctum sanctorum which sees heavy footfall from across the country. Additional SP (Security) Shailender Rai, in charge of security at the temple, insisted that the khakhi was not being compromised since “the move was undertaken with the police’s consent”. “Also, all other police personnel deployed in the temple premises are in uniform. So, security has not been compromised. Only a couple of men in the sanctum sanctorum are wearing dhoti and kurta,” he added. The police personnel are trying to see the “practical” aspect of this directive, since milk and other items used during worship tend to soil their uniforms. With Varanasi being a big tourist centre, the police personnel are also being trained to be “behaviourally consonant with the place they are deployed at,” Ratan said.
