Another former Chief Minister of Assam — Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, has been stripped of the National Security Guard (NSG) cover.
Earlier, former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, lost the security provided by the special force.
Though the move is in line with the government’s efforts to stop the specialised counter-terror force from performing VIP security duty, there are 13 other VIPs, including Home Minister Rajnath Singh, enjoying such security.
After the Home Ministry removed the NSG cover for Mr. Gogoi, he shot off a letter to Mr. Rajnath Singh alleging “the decision had not been taken on merit but due to political reasons, which is discriminatory.”
Persons protected by the NSG are entitled to Z plus security and at any given time around 40 commandos are deployed to provide proximity cover.
“There is a committee that looks into the current threat assessment of various personalities. The decision to remove Prafulla Kumar Mahanta’s NSG cover was also taken by the committee,” said a senior official. The order was issued, but yet to be executed.
Mr. Mahanta, president of the Asom Gana Parishad, is in alliance with the ruling BJP in Assam. He has been vocal in criticising the Citizenship Amendment Bill (2016) of the Centre, which proposes to provide citizenship to persecuted religious minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
When contacted, Mr. Mahanta said: “I have no issues if they [the Centre] remove it [NSG security cover].”
The official said the Centre was pruning the VIP security list, and recently, a meeting was chaired by Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi. There are two committees that decide the security category, the Protection Review Group and the Security Categorisation Committee, both headed by the Home Secretary. They include Intelligence Bureau officials.
In his letter to Mr. Rajnath Singh, Mr. Gogoi had mentioned about the existing NSG security cover to Mr. Mahanta and said he was being discriminated against. “No other political leaders of my stature in the country, who have been provided Central Armed Police Forces (NSG) cover, were suddenly relieved of it just seven months after demitting office. Even in my State, former Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta is still having CAPF [NSG] cover though he demitted office 15 years back,” Mr. Gogoi said.
