Amidst the allegations of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “security lapse” in a sensitive zone near to the Indo-Pak border, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Wednesday categorically denied the charges while blaming the “last-minute change of plan”.
“The Prime Minister was not attacked. There was no threat to his life. It was just an agitation. There was a peaceful protest on the way. This is wrong to say that there was a security lapse. There should not be any politics in this. We have respect for our Prime Minister,” said Channi while addressing the media after controversy erupted over a “major security lapse” during the Prime Minister’s Ferozepur visit.
At the same time, the Chief Minister expressed “regret” that the Prime Minister has to return. “He is our Prime Minister. We regret that he has had to go back. We have full respect for him,” he said.
Accusing the BJP of blaming the Punjab Government for political reasons, Channi also stressed that everyone should resist giving “political colour” to the “unfortunate” incident. “It is wrong to link the farmers’ agitation with the threat to PM’s security...we should not do any politics on this,” he said.
Claiming that the Punjab Police was “capable of providing security”, Channi asserted, “All this happened because the PM’s travel plans were changed at the last minute. Yet, the PM’s office was informed beforehand that agitators had assembled on the road. He decided to cancel his rally. His team took the decision to cancel the rally.”
Notably, the Prime Minister’s convoy was stuck on a flyover near Piareana village on Ferozepur-Moga road in the border district of Ferozepur for 15-20 minutes after a road blockade by protesting farmers.
In pictures and videos going viral on social media and released from different sources, including the PMO, Modi was seen sitting in a black Toyota Fortuner secured by SPG officers. Barely a few feet from his car, people and policemen were seen in clusters.
The Prime Minister had originally planned to take a chopper to Ferozepur but had to take the road route because of bad weather.
As the cavalcade waited, announcements made at a nearby gurdwara brought more farmers to the site, forcing the Prime Minister’s SPG security team to decide to turn back fearing security risk. Later, the Prime Minister flew back to Delhi from Bathinda’s Bhisiana Airport.
“The PM’s visit to Punjab should not be linked with any threat to him. Punjab Police are capable of handling any situation. The reason behind this situation was due to a sudden change in the PM’s program. He was stopped long before the protest site,” said Channi, adding that the protesting farmers have some demands, and “I am not going to use bullets and lathis against them”.
Channi also made it clear that the Government has taken “no action against anyone and no officer has been suspended” yet.
“The protest, due to which the PM’s convoy was stopped for about 30 minutes, was held by the farmers. These farmers are not terrorists, it is wrong to link this with PM’s security. If 70,000 chairs were put in PM rally but only 700 turned up, what can I do?” he said.
The chief minister maintained that the Prime Minister’s entire program was by air, but suddenly, his security agencies planned to go by road. “Some protesters came on the way and they blocked the road with tractor-trolleys. Despite this, if they feel that there has been a security lapse, then we will get it investigated. So far, no action has been taken against any officer,” he said.
Channi maintained that he had to receive the Prime Minister and go along with him. “I had to go to Ferozepur and attend the meeting. Yesterday, some of my office staff tested positive for COVID, then my Principal Secretary and PA tested positive. Because of this, considering my responsibility, I did not go there but requested the Finance Minister to welcome the Prime Minister,” he said, adding that Deputy Chief Minister (Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa) and local MLA were also requested to welcome the PM.
The Chief Minister also maintained that he had been working till 3 am the day before to ensure that everything went well during the Prime Minister’s visit. “Yesterday I got a call from Home Minister that BJP workers can be stopped, and we should immediately remove farmers. I assured him to take every precaution. We tried till 3 o'clock in the night to remove them from the roads,” he said.
Channi said that we did everything to ensure that all roads were clear and for the rally so that no one face any inconvenience.
“PM’s initial plans were to go by air from Bathinda to Ferozepur. For this, three helipads were prepared in Ferozepur so that the PM could land anywhere. We had also informed them about possible rains, and asked to cancel the program. We were assured that the helicopter would fly in the rain.