The Hindu : Gill meets Advani

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 04, 2002

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Gill meets Advani

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI MAY 3. The former Director General of Punjab Police, K.P.S. Gill, who is tipped to become the security adviser to the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, today met the Union Home Minister, L.K. Advani, for about 30 minutes.

Mr. Gill will be in Ahmedabad tomorrow where he will discuss the profile of his new job with the Chief Minister before taking on the assignment.

Government sources made it clear today that the Centre was not making the appointment and that it was entirely up to the State Government. It was pointed out that the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister had an Information Technology adviser and there would be ``nothing wrong'' if Mr. Modi were to appoint a security adviser.

At the same time, the Government made it clear that the Centre was ``not directing'' the State to make the appointment, but that Mr. Advani ``could have suggested'' this to Mr. Modi in his capacity as a senior party leader.

The view is that Mr. Gill would demand a free hand if given the task to bring Gujarat back to normality as quickly as possible. He will still have to ``deal'' with Mr. Modi and his Cabinet, especially the state's Home Minister, Goverdhan Zadaphia. Tomorrow's expected meeting between Mr. Modi and Mr. Gill will in all probability discuss the details of the assignment and his ``powers.''

Mr. Gill was the super cop who broke the back of Sikh militancy, but at that time he had the full backing of not only the Centre but also a Congress Chief Minister in the state.

This time the allegation is that the trouble in Gujarat is the result of lack of political will on the part of the Government to deal firmly with the rioters.

Another problem before the Bharatiya Janata Party is that the appointment of Mr. Gill as security adviser would send the political signal loud and clear that the situation in Gujarat is far from normal — after all Mr. Gill is the expert who dealt with terrorism. In fact it would be an open admission that the situation in Gujarat is extremely difficult.

In another development, the Assam Government has indicated at a meeting between the Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi, and Mr. Advani that it has no objection to the setting up of a Bodoland territorial council ``within the modified Sixth Schedule.''

The meeting, where the Disinvestment Minister, Arun Shourie, was also present — he also holds the charge of Minister for development of the Northeast — it was pointed out by Mr. Gogoi and a team of State Government officials with him that certain amendments would have to be made in the Sixth Schedule (thus a constitutional amendment would be needed) to give protection to economic, social and property rights of non-Bodos residing within a Bodoland territorial council.

It seems that the intricacies involved in the exercise necessarily mean that a Bodoland council would take time to become a reality.

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