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By: Express News Service New Delhi | August 25, 2022 7:24:10 pm
Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Singh Thakur. (PTI, file)The BJP Thursday accused the previous Congress government in Punjab of playing with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s security, claiming that there was a “conspiracy” behind his convoy getting stranded due to protests on January 5. The allegations came on a day the Supreme Court read out a committee’s report fixing the blame for the security breach.
At a press conference, Union Minister Anurag Thakur said both Charanjit Singh Channi, the former chief minister, and the then Director General of Police “were missing” during PM Modi’s visit.
On January 5, the PM’s convoy was left stranded on a flyover due to a blockade by protesters in Ferozepur for 15-20 minutes. After this, Modi returned from Punjab without attending any event.
“Prime Minister Modi’s convoy was stopped in the middle of a bridge, only 100 metres away from protesters… The Punjab Police remained a mute spectator and then chief minister Channi was taking instructions from his party bosses in Delhi,” Thakur said.
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“Anything could have happened to the prime minister. Just two minutes were enough. The Prime Minister had to wait on the bridge for 20 minutes…” he added.
The top court on January 12 had appointed a committee to probe the breach, saying these questions cannot be left to “one-sided inquiries” as they needed “judicially trained independent minds” to investigate.
In its report, the committee said the then Ferozepur Senior Superintendent of Police failed to discharge his duty even though sufficient force was available.
First published on: 25-08-2022 at 07:24:10 pm