The Central government has granted VIP security cover to four Kerala BJP leaders following the State unit’s allegation that there has been a spate of attacks on its cadres after the CPI(M)-led government assumed office.
BJP State president Kummanam Rajasekharan, former State president P.K. Krishnadas, general secretaries M.T. Ramesh and K. Surendran were granted ‘Y’ category security by the Home Ministry a fortnight ago.
This means around 12 personnel will give them proximity security cover, a senior Home Ministry official said. The BJP has alleged that there were more than 400 attacks on its cadres and workers affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in the State last year.
The CRPF has been asked to take up the security detail, the Home Ministry official said.
At a rally in Kozhikode last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised the issue of attack on BJP and RSS functionaries.
Committees assess risk
There are two committees that decide the allocation of a security category: the Protection Review Group and the Security Categorisation Committee, both headed by the Union Home Secretary and include Intelligence Bureau officials. Around 300 individuals are given security cover by central security forces such as the CRPF, the CISF, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the Border Security Force.
“We grant security on the basis of the assessment done by intelligence agencies. Their ground reports suggested that the four BJP persons required protection,” the official said.
In December 2016, four RSS functionaries in Punjab were also accorded Central security cover. Punjab goes to the polls on February 4.
‘X’ category security
The four RSS leaders — Rameshwar Dass from Ludhiana, Pramod from Amritsar, Ramgopal and Kuldeep Bhagat from Jalandhar were given ‘X’ category security. The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which has a specialised VIP security unit was tasked with providing cover to the RSS functionaries. Under the ‘X’ category, about 5-6 armed commandos are deployed with each VIP.
