With tension at the Indo-Bangladesh border and in Jammu and Kashmir at an all time high, the Centre cannot spare Central Police Organisations (CPO) for Gujarat elections and are sending police from other states. A confidential note to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) from Border Security Force (BSF) said that the CPO could not spare too many personnel for Gujarat since it was anyway ‘‘over-strained’’ after the high pressure elections in J-K. Additional BSF companies has been rushed to Indo-Bangladesh border in view of the heightened tension. I WILL: ‘BJP HELPED RIOT MOBS’ Thirteen members of my family were killed in the March 1 carnage. I am yet to get over the night when arsonists attacked our locality and burnt 33 people alive. Their shrieks still keep me awake at night. I’ll come out to vote to avenge the happenings of March 1. I’m not scared of saying that I will cast my vote for the Congress to ensure elimination of the BJP from the state. The mobs that targeted us had the backing of the BJP. That’s why I’ll vote against it. — Sardarpura resident Idris Sheikh Of the 400 companies comprising 48,000 personnel that the MHA was forced to agree upon for Gujarat by the Election Commission, BSF’s contribution was barely 56, that is about 6,700 troops (each company comprises about 120 personnel). Companies had been moved from J-K and from the Northeast to be sent to Gujarat. More companies could not be moved without compromising the security of those places, the note had explained. ‘‘And after Gujarat, elections were scheduled in the Northeastern states of Tripura and Nagaland where the CPOs will have to be deployed in full force. Till then the state police forces would have to contribute their bit in Gujarat,’’ MHA sources said. Other CPOs including the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and the Special Security Bureau (SSB) were also facing the same problem and could not be spared in adequate numbers, sources added. So for the first time, the Centre was sending companies from various state police forces in such large numbers. ‘‘Armed Police companies were being sent to Gujarat from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Unlike J-K or Northeast, Gujarat does not have an insurgency problem. The terrain too is not hostile. The emphasis has to be on policing and maintaining law and order which the state police forces are well equipped to deal with,’’ disclosed a senior CRPF official. In fact, a handful of companies from Railway Protection Force (RPF) — a CPO meant to look after railway property — were also being deployed. ‘‘The RPF is generally not deployed for duties like conducting elections. But in view of the Godhra incident, the government did not want to take any chances and have also pressed the RPF into service,’’ an MHA official said. Sources said that 200 companies were in place at various places in Gujarat by November 22. The remaining were already on the move and were to be in position by December 5. ‘‘These are unprecedented arrangements to conduct elections in any state, other than J-K of course,’’ said the official.
