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Several VIPs to be stripped of their security

Josy Joseph and Onkar Singh in New Delhi

The Union Home Ministry on Monday decided to scale down the security provided to several VVIPs. Union Home secretary Kamal Pandey said the entire scheme of providing security to individuals would no more be called VIP security, but would be referred to as personal security.

The sweeping decision will strip several VIPs of their elite NSG cover. Most of them belong to the opposition parties and include leaders such as Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati, Congress leaders Rajesh Pilot, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Sajjan Kumar, Bhajan Lal, H K L Bhagat, M S Bitta, former UP chief minister Kalyan Singh and Punjab Kesri owner Ashwini Kumar.

Already, Yadav and Mayawati have opposed the decision publicly, terming it as ''politically motivated.''

Those VIPs who will retain their NSG cover are Home Minister LK Advani, Punjab chief minister Prakash Singh Badal, Assam chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mohanta, Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah and All India Anna DMK leader J Jayalalitha, home ministry sources said.

Pandey said the government would no more recommend government accommodations to VIPs because they have a security threat. He said the government is issuing notices to 15 VIPs to vacate government accommodations.

Pandey said the government wants security to VIPs to be unobtrusive, and is issuing a list of dos and don'ts to all individuals provided with government security. He pointed out that if any individual was found to be misusing the security, or if his security personnel were found to be misbehaving then the home ministry would recommend withdrawal of his security.

Pandey said that two committees of the home ministry would review the security threat to each individual every six months. One committee is to be headed by the special secretary (internal security) and the other by home secretary.

He said this review would not have any impact on SPG cover provided to the serving prime minister, his family members, former PMs and their family members.

K P S Gill, former DGP of Punjab Police and a leading expert on internal security, told rediff.com that this decision should have been taken long ago. "Security should not be given to someone because he wants to go shopping," he said, while pointing out that "nobody should make it a prestige issue". He said security should be provided to an individual only after "an objective analysis of the threat perception."

A senior official of the Intelligence Bureau told rediff.com that they have been "trying for donkeys years" to scale down VIP protection. "We almost succeeded twice, but people in political circles put pressure on the government and got the decisions reversed. We hope the government will persist this time."

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