Making a mountain out of a molehill

The recent security lapse in Punjab after the Prime Minister was forced to return without attending poll rallies, has ignited a furious exchange of words between the BJP and Congress. But where does the truth lie?

By Nalin Verma

"Apne CM ko thanks kehna ki mein Bhatinda airport tak zinda laut paaya" (Say thanks to your chief minister that I could return alive at Bhatinda airport)-- Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was stuck on a flyover in Punjab for 20 minutes due to a protest told the officials at Bhatinda airport on January 5.

“Omicrome sadharan viral bukhar sa hai (Omicron is a common viral fever)”-- Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Aditynanath Yogi repeatedly said while talking to people and campaigning in Uttar Pradesh. The two statements—one issued by Prime Minister for the alleged “security breach” during his Punjab visit and another by the U.P Chief Minister making light of omicron virus—are more perilous for the already messy situation that a large part of northern India has fallen in on account of the hostile atmosphere caused by the Sangh Parivar’s aggressive politics of polarisation and the third wave of the pandemic playing havoc with people’s life.

The Punjab government and the government of India have ordered separate high level panels to investigate the “security lapse” during the PM’s Ferozepur rally on January 5. The investigating agencies have lodged FIRs against the protestors who got into the way of the PM’s cavalcade on the way to Ferezepur from Bhatinda and crackdowns are on to nab the “offenders”. Now the PM’s remark-- “I could return alive”-- has goaded the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party mandarins to make a shrill cry that there was a “plot to assassinate” the PM. The BJP leaders have turned up the heat on the Punjab CM, Charanjit Singh Channi. The embattled first dalit CM of Punjab said, “There is a systematic campaign to defame Punjab and Punjabis. If the PM faces any threat to his life the CM of Punjab would be first to take a bullet in his chest”.

It’s for the probe panels to eventually come to a conclusion about the episode but the reports emerging from the ground clearly suggest that there was “no conspiracy or plot” to “assassinate” the PM.

Going by the statements of the farmers’ leaders, eye witnesses and also the policemen deployed for the PM’s security and also the circumstances which caused the PM to return midway hardly suggest any “assassination plot”.

As it happened the PM as per his prescheduled plan—well communicated to the government of Punjab—landed at Bhatinda airport. It was an overcast sky and it was biting cold on that day. The PM was scheduled to travel to Ferozepur in a chopper which couldn’t have flown in the given weather. Alternatively, the PM’s security men arranged a road journey for him from Bhatinda to Ferozepur and simultaneously the Punjab home department deployed over 10,000 policemen to patrol the road that the PM’s cavalcade took to. Meanwhile, as many as 10 farmers’ unions had also scheduled their protest to the MP during the latter’s Punjab visit. “We had mobilised 300 farmers to reach Ferozepur and show black flags to the PM to protest against the government’s failure to fulfil the conditions on which the farmers suspended their over a year long agitation. The government had promised to set up the committee to look into our demand for legal guarantee of the minimum support price (MSP), withdrawal of cases against the protestors among others which the government has not done so far”, the BKU leader, Baldev Singh Zira told this columnist adding, “We were not aware that the PM would go the rally site by road. However, when we saw the security men on the way and had an inkling about the PM’s visit, we asked them to allow us to peacefully reach the rally site after the cavalcade passes on.”

Sources in Punjab police said that the “security forces were taken off guard by seeing hundreds of farmers springing up at a bridge on the highway with the PM’s cavalcade reaching there. But there was nothing uncontrollable. The PM’s cavalcade as rightly guided by his security forces returned to the Bhatinda airport”. At the best, the lack of communication between the home department and the farmers’ bodies in the wake of the sudden change in PM’s route for the rally might have caused the hiccup, the Punjab policeman said.

Now this situation could have easily been avoided had the prime minister acted by setting an example in the given situation. The Election Commission is yet to announce the poll dates and the third wave of pandemic is playing havoc in the country. T