Newly-appointed Delhi BJP president Harsh Vardhan met Anna Hazare at a book release function here on Wednesday, shortly after the anti-corruption crusader held a press conference with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee extending his support to her.
“I wrote to all the parties seeking their response on my 17-point agenda and only she responded and agreed to implement my suggestions,” said Mr. Hazare after releasing a book titled “Is It Police? Confessions of a Top Cop” penned by Vinoy Kumar Singh, a senior serving Indian Police Service officer. The book throws light on various factors that, according to Mr. Singh, render the Indian policing system “anti-people”.
Dr. Vardhan waited for Mr. Hazare — the chief guest of the event — for over half-an-hour, and later had a brief interaction with him after the event.
Commending the serving IPS officer for having “poured his heart out” by sharing his experiences through the book, Mr. Hazare appreciated his endeavour to promote the concept of police as social worker.
Mr. Singh -- who during his stint as the head of the Special Task Force in Bihar supervised several operations against Naxals and dreaded criminals and has also headed the Greyhounds force in Andhra Pradesh -- said: “Based on my experience over the past two decades, I am of the firm opinion that no significant changes can be brought about without a complete systematic overhaul to make the police people-oriented. The force has to be freed from all the shackles that make it anti-people. The system is such that today no poor can get justice,” said Mr. Singh.
During his stints with various police departments, Mr. Singh had earlier introduced innovative concepts such as people’s council, social welfare and development cell and emergency card in a bid to make the force people-oriented.
“The book generated so much heat that the Andhra Pradesh Government took four years to vet and give conditional permission to print,” said a publishing house representative.
