BHOPAL: In the wake of the Ram Navami violence, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has directed the state police higher-ups to submit before him an action plan for a robust intelligence system in the state.
The communal violence in Khargone and Sendhwa on April 10 has claimed the life of a middle-aged Muslim man while leaving over three dozen others injured.
"By when can you submit a detailed plan for streamlining the present intelligence system into a robust system," the CM asked the additional director general (ADG-Intelligence) Adarsh Katiyar at a meeting of top police officers of the state on Tuesday evening.
"There should be zero tolerance for communal violence. Communal riots will not at all be allowed to happen. You've handled the Hanuman Jayanti related events and processions very well. Now you've to ensure that coming festivals, Parshuram Jayanti and Eid also pass off peacefully," Chouhan said at the meeting with top police brass of the state.
The CM's directions to the top police brass, to draw an action plan for a robust intelligence system, comes amid the opposition Congress leaders, including ex-CM Digvijaya Singh and ex-MP minister PC Sharma blaming intelligence failure behind the violence.
But the information available with The New Indian Express reveals that the intelligence set up of the state police headquarters had alerted the police force in all the districts well in advance about the most communally sensitive hotspots in every district and asked them to put in place special security measures (three-layered security) in all these spots.
The state PHQ alert was shared with all district and zonal police around 10 days before Ram Navami (April 10) the list of hotspots. In the case of Khargone district, the list of sensitive hotspots included Talab Chowk (the genesis of Ram Navami procession violence), Guruwa Darwaza, Kalali Kuwan, Jhanda Chowk, Dhan Mandi Masjid and Kumhar Wadi localities.
"Special security arrangements ideally include three-layered security apparatus, including heavily armed police deployment in the innermost layer, rooftop deployment on high rise buildings in the second layer and mobile security systems on the outermost layer. Had such systems timely been put in place, even the attack on the Ram Navami procession in the communally sensitive Talab Chowk locality (which was the prime trigger of the widespread communal violence) might well been averted timely," an informed source in Bhopal confided.
Importantly, all the areas of Khargone where special security arrangements had been strictly advised were situated within a km and a half from the Talab Chowk area, the starting point of the violence.
According to sources in Khargone town, many violence-hit localities, including Bhatwari Mohalla, Bhavsar Mohalla and Pathanwadi were located close to the hotspots where special security arrangements were expected by top police brass of the state.
Meanwhile, sources in the state's intelligence system told The New Indian Express that questioning intelligence preparedness after every law and order problem isn't new. "There's an old saying about intelligence, that intelligence moves from failures to failures and success is a presumption. The alleged failures are for all to see and comment upon, but it's hardly appreciated that these failures are outnumbered by various successes which remain unsung," the key state intelligence source said.
The MP CM's direction to put in place a robust intelligence system (particularly as 2023 will be the assembly polls year) could've several contours.
Though general practice could be changing of an entire team of state intelligence, the CM by his latest direction means restructuring the existing intelligence system.
But the question remains, what kind of robust system, does the CM want? An Uttar Pradesh like system where law and order (L&O) and Intelligence function separately, of the existing intelligence system of MP Police, which has the convergence of L&O and Intelligence headed by the ADG-Intelligence.
As per a senior state police officer, putting in place robust intelligence system requires both more human resources and credible sources in ground, more financial resources to build most trustworthy sources and major technological upgradation of existing apparatus.
Technological upgradation of intelligence system is extremely important, in the light of extremist elements no longer operating just on the ground or social media, but becoming very active on the Dark Web.