Failing to understand 'security' : Lay off, the VVIPs are here
- Sangai Express Editorial :: October 21 , 2013 -

The irony is palpable.

Even as Chief Minister O Ibobi made it clear in his address during the 121st Raising Day of Manipur Police on October 19 at the Parade Ground of 1st MR that the police do not want to harass the public in the name of security measures, hundreds, if not thousands, of motorists were caught in a traffic jam, as National Highway-2, from the side of Imphal post office in the north and Krishna Premi Oil Pump at Moirangkhom in the south was closed to the public from the early hours of the day till 11 am, that is until the function got over.

The Chief Minister made this remark in the backdrop of bomb blasts that have rocked Imphal and other parts of the State in recent times.

The spirit in which the statement was delivered is appreciated but the fact that it ran contrary to what was happening outside the sanctum sanctorum of the raising day function says something very significant.

More than a case of the Government's right hand not knowing what its left hand is doing, but comes more close to the Government's right hand not knowing what its right hand is doing.

No doubt, security for the VVIPs and the leaders of the land should not be compromised at any cost, but this should not be confused with inconveniencing the public.

Lay off, the VIPs are around, was the case and this is something which is hard to digest. This is not security arrangement.

On the other hand, what happened on October 19 would not have shocked the public, for remember this is the same dispensation which came up with the 'brilliant' idea of closing all roads that lead to the Chief Minister's bungalow to the public when it was attacked some years back, after a certain hour in the evening.

A similar exercise was again put in place when one side of the road on NH-2, just adjacent to the CM's residence, was blocked to the public after an audacious bomb attack very recently.

Maybe it was the change of guard in the police hierarchy or maybe it was better sense prevailing, the road block was removed after some days, yet no one seems ready to understand what VVIP security should be about, if one takes the October 19 case into consideration.

Policing. There certainly would not be a one word explanation for this, more so in a place like Manipur, which is a disturbed zone.

But the need to understand this term beyond heavy deployment of cops and diverting traffic to make way for VVIPs or blocking National Highways (which by the way is illegal) should be underlined.

Seen under this backdrop, what the Chief Minister said, that is about the police not wishing to harass the public in the name of security arrangements, seems like a poor cover up attempt for the failure to avert the number of blasts that Imphal has witnessed in recent days.

121 years old and certainly Manipur police have come a long way.

But in the process has it really been successful in keeping up with the changing understanding of what the police is all about ?

There have been improvements, definitely, as far as cases of alleged fake encounters and extra-judicial killings are concerned, but has the real meaning of the term policing seeped into the consciousness of the police set up is a question that should be explored.

Birthdays or anniversaries or raising days should not only be about celebrating or observing the day, but should also be an occasion to look back, introspect and study where improvements can be made.

Fast forward by one year and come the 122nd Raising Day of Manipur police and let's hope that better sense would have prevailed by then.

An institution as important as the Police Department should not reduce its raising day ceremony to an exercise in patting each other, but should also inspire the people.

And definitely inconveniencing the public for hours, is certainly not the way to go about celebrating an anniversary.