On Wednesday (January 5), the Punjab Police, in a major lapse, had allowed political protestors to block the Prime Minister’s convoy. It was blocked for over 20 minutes by protestors at a flyover about 30 km away from Hussainiwala. In a statement, the Home Ministry had asserted that the PM’s convoy had started only after necessary confirmations from the DGP in Punjab and the incident was a major lapse on the part of the Punjab Police.
While calling this a major lapse in the security of the PM, the Home Ministry stated that the PM’s travel plan was communicated well in advance to the state government. The state government is required to make necessary arrangements for security, logistics and also make a contingency plan ready in case of unexpected issues.
Currently, the Director-General of Police in Punjab is Siddharth Chattopadhyaya, a 1986 Batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer whose appointment in the post was pushed by current State Congress Chief Navjot Singh Siddhu.
Appointment of IPS officer Siddharth Chattopadhyaya
On December 17 last year, Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota was replaced by Chattopadhyaya as the officiating DGP (Punjab). His appointment was backed by Sidhu. Although State Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Home Minister Sukjinder Randhawa supported Sahota, Sidhu took the Congress machinery in Punjab hostage by resigning from the post of party President. He later took back the resignation under the condition that a panel for the appointment of the officiating DGP came from the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).
Chattopadhyay, who is set to retire in March 2022, would hold the post of officiating DGP until the appointment of a regular DGP from a panel of 3 IPS officers short-listed by the UPSC. Sidhu had been pushing the name of Chattopadhyaya ever since Captain Amarinder Singh resigned from the post of the Chief Minister. The Congress regime gave in to pressure tactics by Sidhu.
In a notification, the Punjab government announced, “In place of Sh. Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota, IPS (PB:1988) Special DGP Armed Bn., Jalandhar, Sh. Siddharth Chattopadhyaya, IPS (PB:1986) DGP, PSPCL, Patiala shall look after the work of Director General of Police, Punjab (HoPF) in addition to his present duties until a fresh appointment is made to the post of Director General of Police, Punjab (HoPF) as per the prescribed procedure. The orders will come into force with immediate effect.”
During a meeting held on January 4, the UPSC recommended a panel of 3 IPS officers, namely, Dinkar Gupta, Prabodh Kumar and Viresh Kumar Bhawra to the Punjab government. It must be mentioned that Dinkar Gupta had relinquished the position of DGP on October 5 and hence the date was considered as a cut off date. According to norms, an officer must have 6 months of service left for him to be considered for the post. Given that Chattopadhyaya is set to retire on March 31 this year, his name was not considered for the post of regular DGP.
To ensure that Chattopadhyaya continues on his post until retirement, the Punjab Congress government had earlier asked the UPSC to consider September 30 as the cut-off date for deciding the panel. However, it refused to do so and decided to follow the cut-off date of October 5.
The appointment of a new DGP in Punjab has seen dirty politics from Congress factions. Earlier in September, it was reported that while Channi had backed Sahota as the DGP, the final approval had to come from the Congress high command in Delhi. Sidhu has been against Sahota and had backed Chattopadhyay as his candidate.
Questions raised over Congress’ intentions
As the Punjab CM Charanjeet Singh Channi of Congress party entangled himself with various contradicting statements and stands after this incidence of lapse in the security of PM Modi, questions are being raised on the intentions of the Congress party who is currently ruling the state.
The party workers were also seen celebrating the security breach while its leaders were seen posting comments like “How’s the josh, Modi ji?” on social media. Congress leaders were also seen boasting that they were aware of the planned protests and intentions to prevent the PM’s public address in the state.
