Thursday, February 5, 2009
With People Insecure, why High Security for Leaders?
What is the main challenge the country is facing today? Even a child can answer this question! Security for the people!
The victims of the gruesome Mumbai terror attack is a heavy price the people had to pay for the indifference of the leaders, whose prime responsibility is to provide security to the people.
The leaders who cannot provide security to the people have provided tight security for themselves at the expense of the tax-payers! The Constitution has given every citizen a fundamental right to live a secure life, but they are being deprived of the security deliberately!
Why should the people suffer due to the leaders’ security?
Today, the importance of a leader is judged by the number of security men surrounding him; hence the race to extract the highest category of security. Over 60 percent of National Security Guards (NSG) commandos are deployed on personal security duties. It is an obnoxious sight to see that the arrogant Police are cordoning roads through which the leaders will pass with a posse of security guards, putting the people to great inconvenience. People are fed up of all this. Some leaders intentionally create adversaries by their irresponsible statements and thereafter seek state protection for personal safety. We have situations in which the leader of one party apprehends a threat from one party and demands Government protection, while the leader of the other party seeks similar security fearing attack by the first party. This is a misfortune of our country!
Follow the example of Denmark!
A few years ago, while on a visit to Denmark a Bharatiya tourist saw the Queen of Denmark doing her weekly shopping of household requirements in a Mall. She was accompanied by a solitary maid. The Queen was picking up required items from the shelves and the maid was pushing the cart. No posse of security guards or the paparazzi of media!
Amazed at it, the Bharatiya tourist quizzed his local guide. The reply was quite an eye-opener - “If a ruler needs protection from his own subjects, he might as well relinquish his chair. Why should citizens pay for the security of a leader who feels insecure amongst his own people? Only devious leaders feel threatened and Denmark can do without them.”
Why commandos for security of leaders?
While they seem unable to protect ordinary people from terrorist attacks, the politicians spend hundreds of crores of tax-payers money to protect themselves. Over Rs. 250 crore is spent on VIP protection - including VIPs like Deve Gowda, Amar Singh, Ram Vilas Paswan, Sajjan Kumar, BL Joshi, RL Bhatia, Sharad Yadav, Rameshwar Thakur, E Ahmad and Pramod Tiwari. Most of these worthies are said to be facing little real risk. It is also questionable whether lakhs of rupees should be spent on the protection of some others, like Sajjan Kumar, who have murder cases against them. The NSG, set up in 1984 for anti-hijack and anti-terror operations, has two wings – the Special Action Group (SAG), comprising of army personnel on deputation, and the Special Rangers Group (SRG), comprising of personnel from the ITBP, CISF, CRPF, BSF and SSB. More than half of SRG has been diverted to VIP security. How far is it correct that the commandos who have been trained to fight at the time of terrorist attacks be assigned the job of protecting the leaders?
Why does the Gandhi family feel insecure in Bharat?
The Special Protection Group (SPG) has been set up exclusively for providing security to the Gandhi family members, the Prime Minister and former Prime Ministers. Interestingly, the SPG budget for 2008-09 is Rs. 180 crore, up from Rs. 117 crore the previous year, while the 2008-09 budget for NSG, which is meant to protect over a billion people from terror, is Rs. 158 crore as against Rs.159 crore for the previous year.
The total expenditure on the security of the Gandhi family and the present and former Prime Ministers is more than that for the protection of the entire population of the country! Is the Gandhi family more important than 120 crore population of the country?
Why Z+ only? Assign Army for leaders’ security!
The VIP security is classified into five levels - Special Protection Group is the highest level, followed by the Z-plus, Z, Y and X categories. Z-plus security is provided by NSG consisting of six ‘black cat commandos’, two head constables, 12 constables, one escort and one pilot vehicle.
Thirty politicians including Mayavati, Jayalalitha, Amar Singh, Ram Vilas Paswan and Narendra Modi are provided this cover. Sixty-eight VIPs get Z category protection, 243 get Y category and 81 X category. Alongwith the SPG and NSG, the state Police are also deployed for the security of VIPs. In Delhi alone, a whopping 14,200 Policemen have been deployed for the security of VIPs. The Delhi High Court has passed a stricture, “Politicians are not national assets that need to be protected.” From this, the politicians should realise the import of the Court’s say!
True protection lies in total uprooting of terrorists!
People have to unnecessarily undergo untold harassment due to the security of leaders. Even the huge expenditure on their security is made out of the tax-payers money. Stop providing security to leaders merely to boost their importance or fancy! Provide security only to those on whom the Damocles’ sword of terrorists is hanging!
Though it is the first step of defence against the terrorists to provide security to the people, it is imperative to attack the root of terrorism and destroy it. To make this possible, leaders with the fire of nationalism burning in their heart should be in power!
(Ref: ‘Dainik Sanatan Prabhat’)
The victims of the gruesome Mumbai terror attack is a heavy price the people had to pay for the indifference of the leaders, whose prime responsibility is to provide security to the people.
The leaders who cannot provide security to the people have provided tight security for themselves at the expense of the tax-payers! The Constitution has given every citizen a fundamental right to live a secure life, but they are being deprived of the security deliberately!
Why should the people suffer due to the leaders’ security?
Today, the importance of a leader is judged by the number of security men surrounding him; hence the race to extract the highest category of security. Over 60 percent of National Security Guards (NSG) commandos are deployed on personal security duties. It is an obnoxious sight to see that the arrogant Police are cordoning roads through which the leaders will pass with a posse of security guards, putting the people to great inconvenience. People are fed up of all this. Some leaders intentionally create adversaries by their irresponsible statements and thereafter seek state protection for personal safety. We have situations in which the leader of one party apprehends a threat from one party and demands Government protection, while the leader of the other party seeks similar security fearing attack by the first party. This is a misfortune of our country!
Follow the example of Denmark!
A few years ago, while on a visit to Denmark a Bharatiya tourist saw the Queen of Denmark doing her weekly shopping of household requirements in a Mall. She was accompanied by a solitary maid. The Queen was picking up required items from the shelves and the maid was pushing the cart. No posse of security guards or the paparazzi of media!
Amazed at it, the Bharatiya tourist quizzed his local guide. The reply was quite an eye-opener - “If a ruler needs protection from his own subjects, he might as well relinquish his chair. Why should citizens pay for the security of a leader who feels insecure amongst his own people? Only devious leaders feel threatened and Denmark can do without them.”
Why commandos for security of leaders?
While they seem unable to protect ordinary people from terrorist attacks, the politicians spend hundreds of crores of tax-payers money to protect themselves. Over Rs. 250 crore is spent on VIP protection - including VIPs like Deve Gowda, Amar Singh, Ram Vilas Paswan, Sajjan Kumar, BL Joshi, RL Bhatia, Sharad Yadav, Rameshwar Thakur, E Ahmad and Pramod Tiwari. Most of these worthies are said to be facing little real risk. It is also questionable whether lakhs of rupees should be spent on the protection of some others, like Sajjan Kumar, who have murder cases against them. The NSG, set up in 1984 for anti-hijack and anti-terror operations, has two wings – the Special Action Group (SAG), comprising of army personnel on deputation, and the Special Rangers Group (SRG), comprising of personnel from the ITBP, CISF, CRPF, BSF and SSB. More than half of SRG has been diverted to VIP security. How far is it correct that the commandos who have been trained to fight at the time of terrorist attacks be assigned the job of protecting the leaders?
Why does the Gandhi family feel insecure in Bharat?
The Special Protection Group (SPG) has been set up exclusively for providing security to the Gandhi family members, the Prime Minister and former Prime Ministers. Interestingly, the SPG budget for 2008-09 is Rs. 180 crore, up from Rs. 117 crore the previous year, while the 2008-09 budget for NSG, which is meant to protect over a billion people from terror, is Rs. 158 crore as against Rs.159 crore for the previous year.
The total expenditure on the security of the Gandhi family and the present and former Prime Ministers is more than that for the protection of the entire population of the country! Is the Gandhi family more important than 120 crore population of the country?
Why Z+ only? Assign Army for leaders’ security!
The VIP security is classified into five levels - Special Protection Group is the highest level, followed by the Z-plus, Z, Y and X categories. Z-plus security is provided by NSG consisting of six ‘black cat commandos’, two head constables, 12 constables, one escort and one pilot vehicle.
Thirty politicians including Mayavati, Jayalalitha, Amar Singh, Ram Vilas Paswan and Narendra Modi are provided this cover. Sixty-eight VIPs get Z category protection, 243 get Y category and 81 X category. Alongwith the SPG and NSG, the state Police are also deployed for the security of VIPs. In Delhi alone, a whopping 14,200 Policemen have been deployed for the security of VIPs. The Delhi High Court has passed a stricture, “Politicians are not national assets that need to be protected.” From this, the politicians should realise the import of the Court’s say!
True protection lies in total uprooting of terrorists!
People have to unnecessarily undergo untold harassment due to the security of leaders. Even the huge expenditure on their security is made out of the tax-payers money. Stop providing security to leaders merely to boost their importance or fancy! Provide security only to those on whom the Damocles’ sword of terrorists is hanging!
Though it is the first step of defence against the terrorists to provide security to the people, it is imperative to attack the root of terrorism and destroy it. To make this possible, leaders with the fire of nationalism burning in their heart should be in power!
(Ref: ‘Dainik Sanatan Prabhat’)
Labels: Amar Singh, BL Joshi, Deve Gowda, E Ahmad and Pramod Tiwari, Ram Vilas Paswan, Rameshwar Thakur, RL Bhatia, Sajjan Kumar, Sharad Yadav, Terrorism, terrorists
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