The Union home ministry’s recommendation to withdraw elite NSG security cover to some VIPs has evoked mixed reactions from political leaders.
Though Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav and Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad have cried foul in Parliament over the likely move, ministry sources said the recommendations of the security review committee were based on reports of threat to the VIPs.
National Security Guard (NSG) commandos currently protect 20 of the 32 VIPs who are given the highest level (Z plus) of security in the country, with prominent ones being senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L K Advani, Union ministers Farooq Abdullah and Ghulam Nabi Azad. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and former Youth Congress chief M S Bitta.
Sources said withdrawing NSG cover to the leaders would in no way mean downgrading their security as already 12 ‘Z-plus category’ VIPs are being protected by paramilitary forces like the CRPF and ITBP.
According to official estimates, the annual cost of NSG cover to one VIP is Rs 1 crore. The home ministry headed by P Chidambaram who has refused to take a security cover for himself, has been working on ways to rationalise the VIP security on the already over-taxed system.
The review committee, headed by Home Secretary G K Pillai, has also recommended withdrawal of NSG cover to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi. It has also asked for downgrading security of former Union ministers like Shivraj Patil and Jagmohan and many retired bureaucrats.
It may be recalled that the Delhi High Court had pulled up the government on ostentatious security for some 355 central protectees and had asked the government to have a fresh thinking on the VIP security. The issue had come before the court as a public interest litigation (PIL) after the November 26 attacks in Mumbai.
The court had raised questions about ostentatious security to VIPs in the national capital. It had pointed out that while for several VIPs the security was a status symbol, it only made them more vulnerable to attacks as they go around with gun-totting security guards in public places.
