Pandemonium at PM’s public meeting

P Lal

THE December 13 security breach in the Lok Sabha reminded me of an incident from 1983, when I was posted as the SSP, Gurdaspur. Both incidents illustrated that just one misstep or a moment of negligence is enough to cause chaos.

Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister, was scheduled to visit the district to address a public meeting. The range DIG, the IG (CID) and the Director General of Police, Punjab, had arrived to supervise the arrangements. To confound matters, local politicians of the ruling party came up with myriad suggestions and amusing ideas. While the police officers wanted the Blue Book, containing instructions on the security of the PM, to be followed meticulously, the politicians wanted a hassle-free access for the public to the venue so as to ensure an impressively large gathering.

The venue was the grounds of the local Government College. Several layers of security had been set up, each under the control of a senior officer. The outer cordon laid stress on access control. Persons entering the ground, including women, had to pass through a metal-detector door and be frisked from head to toe.

Tight access control led to the lengthening of queues at the entry points. This riled a politician, who was a cabinet minister. Using the public address system, he exhorted the police to let the public in freely. Amid the hustle and bustle, no senior officer was able to hear the announcement. But lower-level officers manning the entry gates did what the minister had asked. They abandoned the strict security checks that were required to be carried out. Resultantly, hordes of men and women poured in, almost unchecked.

The PM alighted from a helicopter and walked up the rostrum with the CM. Nobody else was allowed there in view of the special security protocol during those days of terrorism.

After the welcome speech by the CM, the Prime Minister stood up to speak. She had spoken for hardly a couple of minutes when there was one bang followed by another in the women’s enclosure in the front. It seemed that bombs had gone off. The CM came running down, his face ashen, and confronted the DGP and others. Meanwhile, on a wireless set, the officer in charge of the enclosure had informed me that these were just firecrackers; the two women responsible for the mischief had been nabbed and removed from the spot. I informed the CM. Relieved, he climbed up and told the PM what had transpired. She resumed her speech, and the furrows of w orry disappeared from her brow.

Later, an investigation revealed that the miscreants had brought the firecrackers concealed in their innerwear and were able to easily reach the enclosure after the security checks were carelessly eased.

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