Two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi was trapped on a highway in Punjab for 20 minutes due to a major security breach, a video shows a group of BJP workers standing barely a few meters from the Prime Minister’s car.
The video shows the group, carrying a BJP flag, shouting slogans of “BJP Zindabad” as they stand perilously close to the prime minister’s car – a black Toyota Fortuner – on the other side of the highway.
The car then drives off, with the elite personnel of the Special Protection Group (SPG) forming a shield.
Prime Minister Modi was driving to a rally in Ferozepur when his convoy was caught in the middle of an overpass with protesting farmers blocking the route.
The BJP workers, who were on their way to the same rally, were also stranded when the traffic stopped. Realizing that the Prime Minister’s convoy was also on the overpass, they tried to get closer to his car.
This is another example of a huge mistake in the Prime Minister’s security that day.
Just before the elections in Punjab, the incident has escalated political sparring between the ruling BJP in the Center and the ruling Congress of Punjab.
The Center and governments of Punjab have announced separate investigations.
The Center has accused the state government and police of violating security protocol, despite much coverage of its travel details.
The government of Punjab has claimed that there was a last minute plan change in which it played no part. PM Modi was supposed to fly a helicopter to the rally site, but decided to cover the distance of 111 km by road due to bad weather.
The central government has said there were multiple communications with the state government and Prime Minister Modi’s road route was cleared by the Punjab police chief.
The Supreme Court, hearing a petition calling for an investigation into the security flaw, ordered Prime Minister Modi’s travel records to be kept and both investigations suspended until Monday.