TURA: The concern that elections in Meghalaya are not going to be the same is passe. With the dare all and bare all battle with all daggers drawn, between personalities and parties getting bitter every day the election rhetoric seems to be getting shriller almost at the cost of sensibility. This time, the rhetoric has dropped to an abysmal low with diligent and competent bureaucrats who have served the state without fear or favour being at the receiving end.
The attempt by the state BJP to target the top police officer of the state accusing him of being a stooge of the ruling Congress has sent shockwaves within the bureaucratic circles in the state.
The head of the state police chief, Director General of Police Dr S B Singh, who helped contain insurgency in the Garo Hills is being targeted by the BJP in its bid to usurp power in Meghalaya.
Vested interests with an axe to grind are vitiating the atmosphere with seemingly innocuous ruses under the garb of ‘ officialdom’ aimed at debunking the credibility of certain officials for reasons best known to them.
The BJP has lodged a complaint with the Election Commission of India alleging that the DGP and a group of officers within the force are working at the behest of the ruling party in the state to further the interests of the party and their individual careers.
Interestingly, the current DGP, S B Singh, who is due for retirement on April 30th of this year, has already turned down the six month extension period which is given for retiring DGPs.
Questions are galore about the timing of the complaint by the BJP given that just a week ago another opposition party-National People’s Party which had lodged a similar complaint had hurriedly withdrawn the same without any particular reason.
Highly placed police sources in Meghalaya indicate that the core of the issue lies in the internal feud within the hierarchy of the police headquarters.
There are three senior police officers vying for the position of Meghalaya DGP after the retirement of Dr S B Singh.
The three senior most officers among whom the next DGP would be selected are Additional Director General of Police in charge of CID B L Buam, Additional Director General of Police in charge of Prisons R P Agarwal, and Director General of Police for Home Guards Raghavendra Awasthi.
“It appears someone wants to replace the DGP during the election process and appoint another officer who will get the opportunity to run the state police force post the March 3rd election results,” said a police officer on condition of anonymity.
In the last three years, the backbone of insurgency had been literally broken by the state police force under the leadership of three police chiefs. It began with DGP Peter James Haneman, Rajiv Mehta and the current DGP Dr S B Singh.
From a strength of several hundred armed cadres three years ago, the banned GNLA was left with just a dozen militants by the beginning of 2018 with its chief Sohan D Shira fleeing from one location to another because of successive counter-insurgency operations by the state police commandos which ultimately led to mass surrender of its area commanders and armed cadres in 2016 and 2017.
The move by the BJP to hit below the belt and tarnish the image of the state force and its top officer has few takers in the state where governance has always been above politics.