Total Recall

Black Cats and big shotsTo start with, the home ministry has recommended that NSG cover be withdrawn with immediate effect from five polit...

Black Cats and big shots
To start with, the home ministry has recommended that NSG cover be withdrawn with immediate effect from five politicians in the Z-plus category. It is the belief of the ministry that although these politicians merit security cover, they do not require the protection of India8217;s most elite commandos.Top on this list is Subodh Kant Sahay whose NSG cover was withdrawn on the recommendation of the then home minister, S.B.Chavan, in 1994 only to be mysteriously restored a week later. Then there is Laloo Prasad Yadav. Based on intelligence reports, Laloo Prasad was given NSG cover during the elections. The Bihar chief minister, however, has not deigned to use these commandos and for the last two-and-a-half months a detachment of NSG has been cooling its heels in Patna while the man they are supposed to protect roams freely about not only in his own state but elsewhere too.

The home ministry has, in addition, suggested that former UP chief minister Mayawati and former Tamil Naduminister Jayalalitha do not merit cover. And finally, it has also asked the government to bring back the NSG detachment deployed to protect Bhoomidhar Burman, who was chief minister of Assam for a few days following the death of Hiteswar Saikia.

Yet, despite the recommendation, nobody in the home ministry is optimistic about getting results. Politicians seem to believe that once they get security, they are entitled to it indefinitely8230;. There is another issue that has exercised home ministry officials. Several politicians who currently get security do so because of their actions in the past. And although these men have ceased to be members of Parliament, the tax payers continue to pay for their security.

It is nobody8217;s argument that public servants like K.P.S. Gill, who have rubbed terrorists the wrong way while discharging their duty, should not be entitled to the best security money can buy. But, say home ministry sources, should such politicians as H.K.L. Bhagat, Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler whoare under threat from Sikh militant organisations because of their alleged roles in the 1984 Sikh riots be entitled to government-funded security? The threat to them does not arise from anything they did in an official capacity8230;.

8220;It is essential. You have to provide security to certain people,8221; says Vijay Karan, former CBI director. Adds Ved Marwah, the former NSG director-general, 8220;Security is essential to protect our democratic system. If terrorists are able to harm somebody who holds a key position in government, they will be hitting at our very system and we cannot allow this.8221;

But, concedes Marwah, 8220;Extending security cover to all and sundry has reached absurd levels.8221;

Continues Marwah, 8220;VIP security has become a status symbol. Security should be unobtrusive and brought down to a minimum. What we lack is a realistic assessment of who needs security and what sort of security they need. The government is using security as patronage. And this should stop.8221;8230;

Excerpted from Chinks inthe armour8217;, Sunday8217;, June 30, 1996.