Modi government that was initially criticised for increasing the list of VVIPs and VIPs has decided to downgrade the security cover of 42 persons under the purview of the MHA. The move comes as a welcome development giving a considerable relief to the already overburdened security budget which runs into hundreds of crores of rupees that is spent towards the personal security of these very important people.
The downgraded security list also includes 15 leaders from the Congress party, some of the prominent names are Shashi Tharoor, AK Anthony (Ex Defense Minister) and Ajay Maken. They have been extended Y category security.
Z+ category has a security cover of 36 personnel.
Z category has a security cover of 22 personnel.
Y category has a security cover of 11 personnel.
X category has a security cover of 2 personnel.
The security cover is given based on the threat perception assessment which is ascertained periodically by the Intelligence Bureau officials along with the Home Secretary and the Home Minister, however this premier facility has in the past many times been abused and accorded to anybody and everybody making the whole arrangement more symbolic with prestige and a status affair where Netas flouted in their penchant for a paraphernalia of power strutting around with an army of gun wielding gladiators in their convoy of latest gizmos that made them feel very important indeed!
It is amusing to note that politicians who have often criticized the army and ridiculed our security forces and stand by the anti-national Azaadi gang have to depend on these very diligent defense personnel who are duty-bound to defend their nation and all its netizens whether national or anti-national!
Some of the prominent names who are given NSG/VIP/VVIP security cover are:
Farooq Abdullah who gets Z+ security: Reason for security cover is threat from Islamic terrorists!
Omar Abdullah gets Z+ security and the reason for security cover is threat from Islamic terrorists!
M.Karunanidhi gets Z+ security and the reason for security cover is threat from LTTE that flourished under his nose and now no more exists but the security cover continues unabated!
Mulayam Singh Yadav was getting Z+ security until recently till the Yogi government downgraded it to Z category the reason for security cover is threat from Dalit extremists! It is indeed interesting that the perpetrators of communal violence and promoters of secular Goondaism feel threatened when the SP rule was almost synonymous with hooliganism!
Akhilesh Singh Yadav gets Z security after downgrading by the Yogi Government again and the reason for security is threat from Dalits and right wing extremists and of course ex CM candidate!
Mayawathi’s security also has been downgraded to Z category recently from Z+, and the reason for graded security cover is threat from the Yadav community.
Laloo Prasad gets Z + security, threat perception from whom we do not know!
A private citizen like Neeta Ambani who can very well fund her own security gets Z+ security from the Government, threat perception from which angle the common man is disillusioned and lost in the IPL mania.
As per a 2015 Zee News Report, the state of J&K alone has 25 leaders who get Z+ security, the monthly expenditure incurred accrues to the state exchequer a whopping Rs.10,88,53,460.75 for protecting these ex. MLAs ex MLCs, former bureaucrats, workers, former political leaders who fall under the protected persons category as per the guidelines of the ministry of home affairs.
The recent lynching of Mohammed Ayub Pandith who was part of the security cover extended to separatist Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who enjoys Z category security cover from the Indian state for all his anti- India activities while there is no security for the very people guarding him makes it impertinent for the Indian state to do a complete rejig of the existing security structure.
Because the best security apparatus of the country is meant to protect only those public personalities who are risking their lives for protecting and upholding the interests of the common man and it cannot and should cease to be extended to protect terror abettors and harbingers of communal violence who arm their goons with weapons of violent divide but have been enjoying armed protection cover at public expense. And protectees whose ancestors got assassinated some decades ago should be ascertained for their current threat perceptions and any undue shower of security extravaganza should be revoked urgently.
The recent downgrading or removal of graded security for almost 150 VIPs under Yogi Adityanath’s administration in UP and the current move by the MHA of reducing the security exchequer is a refreshing and much required move that should end the long honeymoon of the dynasty slaves and prioritize people’s security perspective without becoming just another political score settling event each time there is a change of guard.
Also most importantly this move would go a long way motivating the graded security personnel who got in to this much decorated profile after vigorous trainings of hardships but were/are forced to be serving and securing those very people for whom the idea of our nation is just a notion because working for a person whom you regard and revere is an indescribable experience altogether!