india

Updated: Nov 09, 2019 06:26 IST

The Congress on Friday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah of endangering the lives of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, her son Rahul Gandhi and daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra by withdrawing their Special Protection Group (SPG) cover.

Earlier in the day, the government withdrew the SPG cover of the three Congress leaders, and they will now have Z-plus security by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

“Both Modi and Shah are blinded by personal revenge and political vendetta. They are playing with the lives of Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi,” All India Congress Committee general secretary KC Venugopal told reporters at the party headquarters in Delhi.

Soon after the news came in about the withdrawal of the SPG cover to the Gandhi family, activists of the Congress party’s youth and student wings protested outside the home minister’s residence against the decision.

“Two former Prime Ministers — Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi — were murdered. It was former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who amended a law to give the SPG cover to the family of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi,” said Venugopal.

“Former Prime Minister VP Singh made the mistake of removing the SPG cover of Rajiv Gandhi and the country paid a price for it,” he added.

Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in a suicide bombing by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu on May 21, 1991.

“Under what circumstances, the home ministry decided to do this. Usually, the SPG security is under the cabinet secretariat but here the home ministry has issued the withdrawal notice,” Venugopal said.

Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, his Rajasthan counterpart Ashok Gehlot and Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel too condemned the move. While Singh demanded immediate revocation of the decision, Gehlot sought the Prime Minister’s intervention in the matter if the home minister had taken the decision at his own level.

“Considering that Rajiv Gandhi and Indira Gandhi were assassinated, the grant of SPG cover to the Gandhi family was not a political favour but a necessity,” the Punjab CM said.

Gehlot said, “They have resorted to very low level politics. SPG cover was given under the act of Parliament. It is for protecting the lives, what other gain is there from it? The kind of politics they are doing shows their mental bankruptcy.”

Congress leader Ahmed Patel also tweeted, “The BJP has descended to the ultimate personal vendetta mechanism, compromising the lives of family members of two former Prime Ministers to acts of terror and violence.”

Venugopal added that there were rumours a month ago that the Gandhi family’s SPG cover will be withdrawn. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh along with senior Congress leaders AK Antony, Ahmed Patel and M Veerappa Moily had on November 5 written a letter to cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba, raising concerns about the issue and urging him not to go ahead with the move.

Responding to the Congress’s comments, BJP general secretary BL Santhosh tweeted, “Security upgrading or downgrading is an administrative matter. Also SPG or Z+ is decided on threat perception assessment done by intelligence agencies not in 10, Janpath like in yesteryears. RahulGandhi has breached protocol more than 300 times...Why cry now...?”