APCC chief writes to President over removal of SPG cover to Gandhis

Assam Pradesh Congress Committee chief Ripun Bora on launched a fierce attack at the Centre on Monday for withdrawing the Special Protection Group (SPG) security coverage provided to the Gandhi-Vadra family and said it was nothing but "political vendetta" and "cruelty of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah" towards them.

'We think this is nothing but political vendetta and cruelty'

"Recently, the SPG security coverage provided to Sonia Gandhi (Congress interim president), Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi were withdrawn without any reason. Therefore, we Assam PCC strongly oppose this move of the BJP government," Bora said in a letter to President Ram Nath Kovind through Assam Governor Jagdish Mukhi. "We think this is nothing but political vendetta and cruelty of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah towards Gandhi family," he said.

APCC requested the President's interference in the matter

The letter further reads that the Assam PCC along with thousands of workers have staged a 'dharna' against the withdrawal of SPG from the Gandhi family. The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) asked how will Prime Minister and Shah explain the country on what basis they have withdrawn the SPG security coverage from Sonia, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka, whose lives are always "most vulnerable". The APCC requested the President to intervene into the "most serious matter" and restore the SPG security cover to the Gandhi family, whose ancestors made supreme sacrifices for the country.

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About the SPG

The SPG has over 3,000 personnel. Based on threat perception, the Special Group protects the Prime Ministers as well as former Prime Ministers and their families. The SPG was set up in 1985 specifically for the security of Prime Ministers after the assassination of Indira Gandhi by her security guards a year before. After the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991, the SPG Act was amended to provide security to former PMs and their families for 10 years. In 2003, the Vajpayee government amended the law again to bring down the automatic protection for 10 years to one year - or more depending on the level of threat as decided by the Centre. Earlier, the daughter of Manmohan Singh, as well as Atal Bihari Vajpayee's foster daughter, had given up the SPG cover provided to them. While former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee had SPG cover till he passed away in 2018, former Prime Ministers HD Deve Gowda's and VP Singh's security was revoked.

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(With ANI inputs)