Photo Courtesy IBN 7
Nagpur.
Even before the dust of historic swearing-in ceremony of Devendra Fadnavis as the first BJP Chief Minister in Maharashtra on October 31 could settle down, reports of a major security breach and utter mismanagement have bamboozled police circles and put organizers in a spot as well. The police have arrested the said intruder Anil Mishra on Friday who reportedly breached highly secured delegation of VVIP leaders during the ceremony.
The security lapse at the grand swearing-in ceremony, organized inside Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai and attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, several top leaders including BJP patriarch L K Advani, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, many Union Ministers, Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled states and other dignitaries has triggered a high-level probe to pinpoint the guilty. Highlighting the breach, media has reported that how an intruder, a self-proclaimed member of the Bharatiya Janata Party Mumbai’s Bihar cell, shared the dais with the senior leaders of the party.
The intruder Anil Mishra tantalizingly went close to the enclosure where VVIPs were seated and even met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and clicked photographs with him. He also met BJP President Amit Shah and Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis among others who were present at the event. Surprisingly, the intruder even managed to get on to the stage at the time of the swearing-in ceremony. The Mumbai Police have uncovered that Mishra’s name was neither mentioned on the list of people allowed on the dais nor on the VVIP list. An entry pass had also not been issued to him. Taking cognisance into the matter, the police are trying to find out how the man managed to get in the VVIP zone, said media reports.
Mumbai police have now initiated a high-level probe into the fiasco and are even contemplating filing of an FIR in this regard, said a top official.
Poor management
Apart from the security lapse, confusion and chaos prevailed at the venue of the swearing-in ceremony. Miscommunication at the end of security staff regarding the entry passes led to verbal duals between the visitors and the police.
Talking to Nagpur Today, former Mayor and an MLC Anil Sole vent his ire against the organizers for poor management of the high-profile swearing-in ceremony. “The Mumbai BJP men hid the big bunch of invitation cards under the carpets instead of distributing to the deserving invitees. As a result, bogus passes ran amok and undeserving people occupied the graceful seats,” lamented Sole.
According to Anil Sole, several VVIP invitation cards were distributed to such persons who were not at all family members or close to the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. “Some mischievous elements spread a word that the passes meant for distribution to MLAs of Vidarbha were kept with me led to all the MLAs to rush to mu chamber. Caught in an embarrassing situation and to save the face, I anyhow managed 500-600 invitation cards and distributed to the groups of people,” said the former Mayor in exasperartion.
Corporator Parinay Fukey on the stage?
The day Devendra Fadnavis was declared to be the next Chief Minister, Corporators Parinay Fukey was camping in Mumbai and were actively looking after the arrangements of swearing-in ceremony. Special passes were made for Fukey which allowed him access to the stage. However, according to Chairman of NMC’s Standing Committee Narendra Borkar, the security personnel later asked Parinay Fukey to leave the stage. The question is how and why Fukey was given so much importance? In Nagpur, he is not seen anywhere near the Chief Minister as he knows his place, quipped Borkar.
Citing an interesting situation, the former Mayor Anil Sole said that the NMC’s Health Committee Chairman Ramesh Singare was allowed entry at the venue by police only after he answered it correctly that the name of North Nagpur MLA is Dr Milind Mane.
To have a single glimpse of their favourite Prime Minister, many people landed at the venue but were denied entry as they were not in possession of requisite entry passes. Or some of them were seen arguing with the police officials over the confusion at the VIP entry gates.
Due to poor management, the security staff had no instructions to allow any vehicle except with authorized parking sticker. The mismanagement on the part of the organizers of the historic event has left several people red-faced who are now venting their ire to the media.
