The Congress and its allies have taken a serious note of threats issued to Rahul Gandhi, the leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, and have urged the Prime Minister to rein in his partymen who were making irresponsible but alarming statements. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has also written a letter to the PM, drawing his attention to the utterances of several leaders from the NDA. Party treasurer Ajay Maken filed a complaint with the Tughlak Road police station earlier in the week, naming three BJP leaders, Ravneet Singh Bittu, Tarvinder Singh Marwah, Raghuraj Singh and Shiv Sena activist Sanjay Gaikwad. Rajya Sabha MP Anil Bonde while reacting to Rahul’s demand for a caste census, also stated that his tongue should be “burned’’. BJP leaders, who have opposed the stand taken on multiple issues by Rahul Gandhi, have also termed him as a terrorist, something which has not gone down well with most people in the political circles. Till a couple of years ago, the BJP had tried to ridicule Rahul by calling him a “Pappu’’ but after he has bounced back and taken the Saffron Brigade upfront, this description has been virtually withdrawn. In fact, Congressmen say that it was the BJP leadership which by making false promises, was making a “Pappu’’ out of the people.
While it is for the Intelligence agencies to assess, the level of threat to the LoP, who enjoys a “Z’’ plus security cover, there is a growing feeling within the Congress that he should be provided enhanced security by the Special Protection Group (SPG), which guards the Prime Minister. The SPG is an elite force drawn from various para-military organizations as well as the Defense Forces, and is solely responsible for the security of the Prime Minister. Till November, 2019, the SPG was also taking care of the security requirements of the Gandhis, who have in the past lost two members of their family to terrorist activity. While Indira Gandhi was gunned down by her own security guards on October 31, 1984, her son, Rajiv was targeted and assassinated by a suicide bomber in Sriperumbudur, on May 21, 1991.
There are many in the security establishment who believe that had Rajiv, at the time of his death been guarded by the SPG, he may have lived. Indira Gandhi was killed since she did not pay heed to advice from her own security personnel, and did not allow the Sikh bodyguards to be withdrawn from her Security detail. The SPG was formed shortly after Rajiv took over as the PM and is now a force with over 3000 highly trained personnel. An amendment in the SPG Act was subsequently made to also extend the cover to the families of the former Prime Ministers. This arrangement was reviewed gradually in 2019 and to begin with the SPG cover was replaced with “Z’’ plus security for both former PMs, HD Deva Gowda and Dr Manmohan Singh.
It was evident that the Centre would in due course withdraw the SPG from the Gandhis as well, a matter that was broken by the Sunday Guardian in a report. Realizing that there could be opposition to the move if the SPG was taken away from the Gandhis, the Home Ministry prepared a detailed justification citing numerous illustrations of how Rahul Gandhi, had infringed the SPG norms, and gone by his own whims and fancies. The unwritten code which is prevalent in any security set up is that the Protectee, cannot have his way, and has to go by the advice of those who protect him. This is a matter which came up for discussion in the security circles when Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was stranded on a bridge near Ferozepur on January 5, last year during the peak of the Punjab election campaign.
While action against Punjab police personnel and its officers was initiated, the SPG’s role was never brought to fore during the inquiry unless, it was kept confidential and action was taken against those who had erred. It was an extremely alarming situation that the SPG had permitted the PM to undertake a road journey through hostile terrain with the farmers protest in progress and without ensuring that there were safe houses on the way. The entire incident was in complete violation of the stipulations laid down by the blue book and the SPG code. Coming back to Rahul, he should have adhered to the counsel of the SPG, and ensured that he did not violate the provisions. Those close to him were of the view that he was given the security cover to enable the Centre to keep a watch on his movements.
During PV Narasimha Rao’s tenure, the SPG personnel deployed at Ten Janpath with Sonia Gandhi, were mostly those who belonged to the Intelligence Bureau and kept a close watch on who came to meet her. This was an accepted part of their job profile. Not many people are aware that after Rajiv’s assassination, Sonia had hired private security personnel to guard her for some time.
The government is conscious that the Gandhis continue to be subjects of attention from all types of people and thus need to be protected. Describing Rahul as a terrorist is something which is difficult to understand. In this context, it needs to be pointed out that in 2006, during his maiden speech at the Congress Plenary in Hyderabad, Rahul had affirmed that his allegiance was to the National Flag, which was also the symbol of everything he stood for. Whether the Centre provides a SPG cover to him is something which would be known soon.