Asserting that the breach in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s security during his January 5 visit to Punjab was ‘planned’ and not a ‘natural one,’ Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur on Thursday said those behind the conspiracy and their motives should be unmasked.

Thakur also raised a series of questions about the role of former Punjab Chief Minister and Congress leader Charanjit Singh Channi and said that it needed to be answered why top functionaries were missing from the spot where the Prime Minister’s convoy was stranded.

Thakur’s comments came after a Supreme Court-appointed committee said that the then Ferozepur SSP had ‘failed to discharge his duty’ though sufficient forces were available during Modi’s Punjab visit.

Prime Minister Modi had visited Punjab ahead of the state assembly polls when a Congress government-led by Charanjit Singh Channi was functioning in the state.

Attacking the Congress, Thakur said that the incident was ‘not natural, but planned.’ At a press conference, Thakur posed a series of questions, which he asserted, should be answered.

“Why was such a situation allowed to be created? Why were the important people absent from the place of incident? Who disclosed the route of the Prime Minister to the protestors? If it was a sanitized route. How did the protestors reach the spot? Who was the SSP talking to on the call repeatedly? Who was he taking the instructions from,” he asked.

“The CM gave the excuse that he is suffering from Covid-19, but he addresses a press conference after a few hours and meets people without a mask. Channi said that it was natural. It was not natural but planned. Who was behind this conspiracy? What did they want to achieve,” Thakur said, listing out a series of queries.

Thakur questioned the then Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and the then DGP for being absent from the spot. The I&B Minister lashed out at the Punjab Police, controlled by the state government, for being a “mute spectator” on the flyover and asked, “Who disclosed the Prime Minister’s route to the protestors?”

“The SPG gave a go-ahead to take the route only after a clearance by the Punjab DGP that the route is safe and sanitized. Even then the Chief Minister, the Chief Secretary and the DGP were missing. Their vehicles were there but they were absent. They left the Prime Minister alone. The spot, where his convoy was stranded, was in the middle of the bridge, only 100-m away from protestors, only 10 km away from Pakistan. Anything could’ve happened,” Thakur said.

Thakur claimed that Channi was not even available on the phone when the incident occurred.

“The Punjab Police stood there being a mute spectator. The Punjab CM was not even available on phone. Who disclosed the route to the protestors? How did they gather there? The then Chief Minister said that it was a matter of only 20 minutes. But even in two minutes, anything could happen,” Thakur asserted.

Earlier today, the Supreme Court said that a five-member committee appointed by it had said that Ferozepur SSP failed to discharge his duty.

A bench of Chief Justice NV Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli said while reading from the report of the committee headed by a former top court judge, Justice Indu Malhotra, that there should be an oversight committee for periodic revision of ‘Blue Book’.

The apex court said that it will send the report of the five-member committee to the Centre for appropriate action. There are remedial measures and safeguards needed for the Prime Minister’s security, said the bench.

The Supreme Court had earlier set up a five-member Committee headed by a retired top court judge, Justice Indu Malhotra to probe into the security lapse during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Punjab visit.

(With inputs from Agencies)