Amid threat from Bangladeshi groups, security of Suvendu Adhikari to be overhauled

Kolkata, Dec 29 (IANS) The security for the Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari will be overhauled thoroughly amid inputs by central intelligence agencies on possible terror attack on him by the associates of Bangladesh-based fundamentalist outfits who have already entered the Indian territory through the porous borders with the neighbouring nation.

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has already started the work of coordination with the West Bengal government on what additional security measures can be adopted for the Leader of the Opposition, confirmed a senior official from the state secretariat Nabanna.

He also said that the Union Home Ministry has expressed willingness to coordinate smoothly on this issue to ensure absolute safety for Adhikari.

The Union Home Ministry had also requested the state government to provide with the details about the locations of the public meetings to be attended by the Leader of the Opposition so that based on the sensitivity of the location appropriate security measures can be adopted.

There is also a proposal that Adhikari be provided with bullet-proof vehicles in case the location of his public meeting is at any sensitive zone, especially in the areas close to the international borders.

At the same time, the state government official said, there would be restrictions on people willing to have selfies with the Leader of the Opposition during those public meetings.

In two successive inputs from the central agencies sent to the state secretariat recently, it has been clearly stated that Adhikari has become the target of two Bangladesh-based fundamentalist associations namely Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and Hizb-ut-Tahrir (HUT).

It has also been claimed in the intelligence reports, sources added, that there is a possibility of the LOP being targeted in any of the several public programmes that he is attending daily where he had constantly been vocal on the recent crisis in Bangladesh, especially the attack on the minorities and Hindu religious establishments there.

Threat perception on this count was already there and in view of that the Union government decided to expand the ambit of security for Adhikari last month.

Till November this year, Adhikari was entitled to ‘Z’ category security only within the state of West Bengal. However, considering the threat perception as highlighted in the central intelligence report, the same security will be provided to the LoP wherever he travels within India.

Earlier, Adhikari was entitled to ‘Y’ category security in any state other than West Bengal.

–IANS

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