Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi (SHP)

New Delhi, Feb 13: After the law regarding the protection services was amended and notified last year, questions were raised on the matter in the Parliament. Nevertheless, the home ministry gave a written reply in the Lok Sabha making it official that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the lone Special Protection Group (SPG) protectee.

DMK parliamentarian Dayanidhi Maran sought to know 'the details of the current protectees under the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Special Protection Group (SPG) in the country'.

In response, Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy said the SPG protects only one person but he did not identify the protectee, namely, PM Modi. He also did not give details of CRPF protectees and the VIPs whose security cover has been changed since 2014 - Maran had also sought to know this information - citing 'security reasons'.

Narendra Modi

On Tuesday, Reddy revealed in Lok Sabha that the CRPF secures 56 important people in the country.

This question is gaining significance as the Union Budget 2020-21 have allotted a budget of Rs 592.55 crore for the elite SPG force. Reportedly that is an increase of 10 per cent from last year.

Earlier the SPG cover was also provided to Gandhi's, but after the amends were made to the law, the SPG cover was withdrawn for the family which includes - Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her children Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

The budgetary allocation for four SPG protectees in 2019-20 was Rs 540.16 crore. This made per capita cost of security cover at Rs 135 crore, that is, the average cost of protecting the four VIPs - PM Modi and the three Gandhis - was Rs 135 crore each. This means that per capita cost of SPG cover increases by almost 340 per cent this year.

The SPG came into being in the aftermath of the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Her son Rajiv Gandhi was the prime minister at the time. The force was created for the protection of the prime minister and immediate family. Rajiv, Sonia and their children Rahul and Priyanka became automatic SPG protectees.

With the change of power in 1989, the VP Singh government withdrew SPG cover to the Gandhis and the event that came next was the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991. The Congress returned to power the same year. PV Narasimha Rao became the prime minister, apparently, on the recommendation of Sonia Gandhi, SPG cover was provided back to the Gandhis. They continued to have SPG cover till November last year when the Modi government decided to replace it with CRPF security cover.

The budget allocated for the SPG cover has seen an increase since the Modi government first came into power. In 2014-15, SPG was allocated Rs 289 crore which increased to Rs 330 crore in 2015-16.

The budgetary allocation for the SPG in 2019-20 rose to Rs 535 crore, from Rs 385 crore in 2018-19. It was election year which meant all the four SPG protectees of the time - PM Modi, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi - were likely to undertake an extensive tour of the country, thereby swelling the SPG bill.

With another 10 per cent hike in budgetary allocation in 2020-21, the cost of SPG cover for PM Modi has catapulted. At Rs 592 crore, the cost of protecting the prime minister comes at about Rs 1.62 crore a day or Rs 6.75 lac an hour or Rs 11,263 a minute.

Being the face of BJP, PM Modi is the most sought after party leader even in state elections. This results in undertaking several domestic and international tours.

Meanwhile, a comparison of PM Modi with his predecessor Dr Manmohan Singh shows that the former has taken more foreign trips during his tenure. The former PM undertook 93 foreign visits in 10 years whereas Modi had already crossed this number in less than six years. PM Modi's domestic and foreign tours have their bearing on SPG cover cost.

In his response, Reddy told Parliament, "Security is provided based on threat assessment by the central security agency. It is subject to periodic review. Based on such review, the security cover is continued or modified."

The amended SPG Act says the elite force is responsible for the security of the serving prime minister and the immediate family staying at PM's official residence, and the former prime minister and the immediate family for five years since leaving the Prime Minister's Office. As Narendra Modi is in the power for more than five years, his predecessor Manmohan Singh is no longer entitled to SPG cover.