The Hindu : PM's day out

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 16, 2003

Opinion

Opinion - News Analysis

PM's day out

Every time Mr.Vajpayee visits Lucknow, it's like there's an undeclared curfew, says J.P. Shukla.

PEOPLE IN Lucknow still remember how the then Prime Minister, Morarji Desai, had come to the city during the Janata Party regime and left almost unnoticed. During his drive from the Amausi Airport to Begum Hazrat Mahal park, traffic on the roads flowed normally. There were no barricades, no restrictions on the movement of people and no policemen to show the arrogance of authority. All that has changed — and changed at the expense of the common citizen. Residents having to put up with harrowing experiences for the sake of VIP security has become quite normal.

Lucknow, besides being the Uttar Pradesh capital, is also the parliamentary constituency of the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee. As a parliamentarian, he needs to be in touch with his "voters". And his visits are rather frequent. Every time the Prime Minister comes visiting the drill is the same. Roads are completely closed off ; no one is permitted, not even those facing emergency situations, to move along the "VVIP route" and policemen are posted even inside private homes in the vicnity.

School children are the worst affected. During the Prime Minister's visits, parents avoid sending children to schools, especially in localities covered by his programmes. Many times school authorities are "advised" to close their institutions to avoid harassment to children. It's like there's an undeclared curfew, as the local newspapers put it.

The Ganna Sansthan in the Dalibagh area is a favourite for those organising functions to be attended by Mr. Vajpayee. That invariably results in the opening of the road through the Banarasi Bagh zoo. The road remains closed normally to vehicles so as not to disturb the animals.

The area near the auditorium has several dangerous turns and the citizens want speed-breakers in place. But the PWD engineers refuse the demand, as they have to remove the speed-breakers everytime the Prime Minister comes visiting. The security for the Prime Minister has thus become a sort of insecurity for the residents of Dalibagh.

Altercations between zealous security personnel and the people harassed have taken place occasionally. During one of Mr. Vajpayee's visits last year, a major part of his press conference was used by reporters to protest the misbehaviour of security personnel who had refused to recognise the "passes" issued to the mediapersons.

The Prime Minister sets the pace for other "leaders" to follow. The security of the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mayawati, is only marginally less stringent. Even before she became the Chief Minister, she had bargained with the Union Home Minister for the highest security cover possible for those outside the SPG regime. After becoming Chief Minister, she has opted to surround herself with a very "macho" security paraphernalia.

She publicly announced that Uday Pratap Singh, father of the independent MLA, Raghuraj Pratap Singh, had planned to kill her on January 26 last. That was in fact given as the reason to detain Uday Pratap Singh under POTA. Her perceptions have got duly reflected in further tightening of the security system at her residence on Mall Avenue, her official residence on Kalidas Marg, her office in the Secretariat Annexe and the Yojana Bhawan.

When she is on the move the road is completely sanitised and closed to other traffic. Her fleet of 12 vehicles includes one with a "jammer" to render ineffective any electronic gadget. She is one of the few Chief Ministers to have this arrangement. Eight cars in her fleet are unnumbered.

In fact, she tries to imitate the security drill that is followed for the Prime Minister. For instance, venues where Ms. Mayawati is present for any length of time have close-circuit TV sets installed as is done for the Prime Minister. Frisking of visitors also takes place at the same level. The only difference seems to be the absence of SPG personnel in her security set-up. Other standards are the same as laid down for anyone covered under the Z-plus security norms.

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