A day after media report said that the Centre had tightened Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s security guidelines, the Ministry of Home Affairs said on Wednesday it had only reiterated the existing protocol.
On Tuesday, news agency PTI had reported, quoting unidentified officials, that the Home Ministry had asked for even ministers to be barred from coming close to Modi unless cleared by the Special Protection Group.
The ministry had reportedly warned of an “all-time high” threat to the prime minister and he was said to be the “most valuable target” ahead of the 2019 general elections. The Special Protection Group advised Modi to cut down on road shows and instead address public rallies as they are easier to manage, an unidentified official told PTI.
The guidelines are not new, and are reiterated periodically, the ministry said on Wednesday. “Guidelines for security of VVIPs [very very important persons] are required to be reiterated from time to time,” the ministry said in a statement, PTI reported. “These guidelines/SOPs [standard operating procedures] are not new; they are reiteration of existing guidelines and do not contain any specific reference to ministers or other dignitaries.”
No new restrictions have been added to the guidelines, the statement added.
Earlier this month, the Pune Police had arrested five rights activists and accused them of having links with a banned Maoist outfit. Police had claimed to have found a letter at the home of one of the activists, which purportedly mentioned a plan to assassinate Modi in a “Rajiv Gandhi-type incident”.
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