Modi addressed Hunkar rally despite police warnings: reports

Narendra Modi addressed the Hunkar rally despite state police and agencies pleading with him to call it off, after blasts in Patna killed around five people and injured close to 100.

A report in the Hindustan Times said, “After a bomb was recovered at the railway station revealed the presence of a clock as timer device around noon, the IB deputed the state intelligence chief Vivek Srivasttava to go to the airport and brief Modi about the blasts. The Gujarat CM discussed the situation with his personal security chief and decided to attend the rally”.

Modi made no mention of the blasts during his speech until the very end of the rally when he appealed for calm, and told the attendees to go home safely.

The HT report added the Home Ministry was livid that the security of Modi, who is a Z+ protectee, had been taken so lightly.

Security at the Patna rally has indeed come under the scanner following the bomb explosions.

According to this report in the  Times of India :

Sources said though there were no specific inputs, Bihar government was told about possible threats to the Narendra Modi rally. Still, security was so lax that even anti-sabotage checks, a routine in such rallies, were not done. Even policemen were not found in adequate numbers around the venue while several peripheral sections of the venue were seen guarded by private security.

The  Indian Express  noted,

“What baffled the central agencies is the way the police handled the spots where these explosions were reported. Unlike the standard practice after the blasts, the areas were not cordoned off which resulted in loss of vital clues.

Also, although the police have a bomb disposal squad, there are not enough personnel to comb the area. The police used lathis and bare hands to pick packets suspected to contain IEDs.”

For his part, Nitish said,

”There were no intelligence inputs either from the Centre or from the state. Whatever was possible to do for this kind of a programme, the administration had done. Security was tightened keeping in mind the BJP rally. Senior police officials had personally monitored the security arrangements at Gandhi Maidan,”

Meanwhile the MHA has asked all states to further upgrade security for the BJP Prime Ministerial candidate, said the Indian Express.  According to the report:

“Modi, who already has Z-plus security cover by the National Security Guards (NSG), will be given the same kind of cover by the concerned state police wherever he is visiting, a senior official said. At least 108 NSG personnel are dedicated to Modi’s close range security at present, including those who sanitize vehicles used by him to travel outside Gujarat”.