The BJP leadership has launched an all-out offensive against the Congress-led Punjab government over the breach in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s security during his recent state visit with chief ministers of BJP-ruled states accusing the Charanjit Singh Channi government of a “pre-planned, well orchestrated conspiracy”.
Two of them – Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Tripura counterpart Biplab Kumar Deb – alleged the involvement of “Khalisatanis” with the former demanding Channi’s arrest for the “conspiracy to kill” the prime minister.
Meanwhile, along with them, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh chief ministers Yogi Adityanath and Shivraj Singh Chouhan alleged that the flyover where the PM’s convoy was stranded was “just a few kilometres from the Pakistan border”, vulnerable to “drones, missiles and snipers”.
“It has become clear that this was a pre-designed conspiracy. The Punjab government did not follow the rules and protocol laid down in the SPG blue book. They did not even follow the elementary protocol of the Prime Minister being received by the Chief Minister and the DGP. This is not just a violation of security protocol but a conspiracy against the country, for which the chief minister should apologise,” said Adityanath.
Saying that the Prime Minister’s convoy was stopped at a “place where it could be exposed to drones or other attacks”, Adityanath said this happened “despite intelligence inputs about possible Khalistani involvement.”
Alleging that the security breach was a “pre-planned”, “sponsored conspiracy”, Chouhan questioned why the chief minister and top police officials were not present with the prime minister. He also wondered how the protesters came to know about the PM’s route and how did they gather in such large numbers within such a short time period.
“The Congress, in the process of hating Narendra Modi, has developed a hatred for the country, the PM’s position, the Constitution, Army, security and national interest,” he said.
In Agartala, Deb alleged that the security breach was “pre-planned and part of a well-orchestrated conspiracy to put the PM’s life in danger”.
“Khalistani organisations who foster anti-India sentiments were involved in the security breach and the way Congress leaders have reacted makes it clear that the Congress high command sponsored the whole incident,” he alleged.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami also alleged “negligence” and a “massive conspiracy”. “It could be said that this was not just a mistake but a massive conspiracy. The way they tried to harm the Prime Minister, this was not spontaneous, but a premeditated, sponsored conspiracy. The Congress high command has to be answerable,” he said.
The stinging remarks from BJP CMs came on a day the Supreme Court flagged the “blame game” and “war of words” between the Centre and Punjab government over PM Modi’s security breach and appointed a five-member committee headed by former apex court judge Indu Malhotra to probe the January 5 incident.
Halting the separate inquiries, ordered by the Centre and the Punjab government, a bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana said the security breach has not been “seriously disputed by either party” and an independent probe was needed as the “war of words” between the two governments was not a solution and would rather impair the need for a robust mechanism to respond at such a critical juncture.
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