Amritsar, November 3
Mounting pressure on the international border and the international fight against terrorism notwithstanding, thousands of policemen and security personnel heaved a sigh of relief as the first-ever executive committee meeting of the BJP, featuring the Prime Minister and the Home Minister, besides others, ended here this afternoon peacefully.
For the policemen, the relief is temporary as they will face the same rigmarole 15 days later when the Prime Minister visits this holy city again to address a public rally at New Amritsar. The occasion will be the concluding session of the bicentenary celebrations of the coronation of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
Before Mr Vajpayee arrives here again, several Union Ministers, including the Defence Minister, Mr George Fernandes, will be in the town to participate in various functions being organised here from November 13 onwards.
Most of the policemen, who have been specially deployed here from the Punjab Armed Police and Punjab Commando battalions may not be able to go back home until the conclusion of the Maharaja Ranjit Singh celebrations.
The changing threat perception, especially in the wake of the ongoing war against the Taliban in Afghanistan, must have made the policemen keep their fingers crossed till the Prime Minister landed back in Delhi. His overnight stay here in this border town was perhaps not to the wishes of the top brass of security agencies of the nation.
Though this holy city was fortified with a heavy presence of policemen, relaxation was visible everywhere. Journalists were frisked for a formality. Neither any objections were raised to their mobile phones nor were they asked to scribble a few words with their pens. Soon after the Prime Minister left, the entire security bandobust was gone.
In the morning, one of the factions of Akali Dal tried to organise some “dharna and block vehicular traffic” on roads leading to the venue of the BJP executive meeting, but they were quickly moved away.
Even for the state-level active workers’ rally yesterday, the arrangements were tight. The crowd was mostly from urban areas as no tractor-trailers or trucks were seen anywhere. But the November 18 rally will be different where the Shiromani Akali Dal plans to mobilise a big crowd, probably bigger than the “sadbhavana rally” it organised at Killianwali in Bathinda on September 25 to mark the birth anniversary of a former Prime Minister, the late Devi Lal.
The state DGP, Mr Sarabjit Singh, and other senior police officers, including some district police chiefs, were here to ensure that security arrangements stood in place.
