NEW DELHI, India: The “special security cover” provided to the former Internal Security Minister, Mr. Arun Nehru, and his family at his Akbar Road residence here was suddenly withdrawn, notwithstanding the fact that the Prime Minister has assured him that the arrangements would continue as long as necessary.
Mr, Nehru was telephonically informed that the special escort cars for himself and his family members were being immediately withdrawn, hinting that the other security paraphernalia would be withdrawn the next morning.
Mr. Nehru’s name figures in the Home Ministry’s security records as being among the persons high on the “hit list” and it was on this account that he was brought under the category of those deserving “special security cover”.
He had been informed in writing by the Home Minister, Mr. Buta Singh, on August 31 that in view of the threats to pick targets in the Capital, special security arrangements for him and his family would continue. Earlier, the Prime Minister had also written to him assuring that the arrangements would continue even after he had ceased being a Minister.
Reacting to the withdrawal of the arrangements, Mr .Nehru commented wrily The threat seems to have disappeared overnight, and in just three weeks there seems to have been a dramatic change in the situation”.
After word spread among the dissident group that the security arrangements were being withdrawn from Mr. Nehru’s house, Mr. Arif Mohammad Khan, who is also provided with similar security cover at his Sunehri Bagh Road residence, contacted the Home Minister offering to surrender his security cover. His argument: “When the Government thinks that the former Internal Security Minister can remain without security, who I to claim that privilege am?”
The unexpected action in respect of Mr. Nehru has led to the interpretation among dissident leaders that they are victims of a “deliberate plan” aimed at exposing them to danger ,and that the withdrawal of security is only one element in an overall strategy aimed against Mr. V.P. Singh and his associates.
“Withdraw the whole lot if you want”, Mr. Nehru told the caller.
They have noted that the Congress (I)’s reaction to the mounting popular support for Mr. V.P. Singh has shifted from the initial indifference and disdain to organized belligerence and obstruction.
Ata Press Conference here, Mr. V.P. Singh traced the “graph” of Congress (I) aggressiveness towards him and his associates ever since th time they were expelled from the ruling party. It started off with slogan shooting by handful of youth Congress (I) activists at their residences. An attack was then mounted on Mr. Arif Mohammad Khan when Youth Congress (I) workers invaded his house and assaulted him as he was alighting from his car and tore off his kurtha.
The next manifestation of the aggressiveness was the “planned” attack on Mr. VP. Singh when he went for dinner to a friend’s house in the Delhi University campus.
The attacks were intensified, he said, when their hope that the popular support for him would fizzle out were dashed to the ground. The next move of the ruling party was seen in the absence of police and security arrangements at the public meetings he addressed. During his first visit to Lucknow, Section 144, had been enforced by the UP government. When he and his group went to Bareilly to address a meeting, their personal security guards were not allowed to go with them. They were told that security would be provided at the site, but there was none when they reached the place. Meanwhile, his supporters were being intimidated in numerous ways. Apart from threats, buses were diverted, and people were prevented from travelling in their own tractors and trucks.
When all these measures failed to curb the enthusiasm of the people, Mr. V.P. Singh said, the Congress (I) was now resorting to the use of “criminal elements” to prevent him from addressing meetings. Hundreds of them had been deployed all along the 60km route from Lucknow to Unnao and they had been brought in special buses. There were organised and planned attacks on his entourage along the route, and it was a virtual warfare when at one point criminals hiding in bushes threw stones. The stones had been brought in a trolley attached to a truck. Additionally, two snakes had been let loose on the audience as the Unnao meeting began with the objective of causing confusion and dispersing the meeting but the people killed the snakes and the meeting continued. In another village, when thugs entered it, the local people came out of their houses armed with lathis to chase the criminals away lest their presence bring a bad name to their village. The UP Home Minister, Mr. Dixit, seemed to have made it a “prestige point” to prevent the Unnao meeting from being held since he came from that constituency. However, the meeting turned out to be a tremendous success. His only regret was that his personal security guard had been hit by a stone and a number of people had been injured in the brick batting.
A stage has been reached, it seems, when the Congress (I) has had to take recourse to the use of criminals on the one hand and snakes on the other to intimidate us”, said Mr. V.P. Singh.
Commenting on the Bofors delegation and the outcome of the visit to India, Mr. V.P. Singh said the three foreign companies mentioned by them as recipients of kickbacks must either be nominated beneficiaries or powerful enough to influence the decision making process.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 9, 1987
