‘Is it so easy to breach Red Fort security?’ Trinamool MP Trivedi wants ‘high-level’ probe

In an interview to ThePrint, Trinamool MP and former Union minister Dinesh Trivedi also said Modi government should start afresh on the issue of farm reforms.

A protester hoists the Nishan Sahib at the Red Fort in Delhi on 26 January | ThePrint Photo | Manisha Mondal

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress’ Rajya Sabha MP and former Union railway minister Dinesh Trivedi has demanded a high-level inquiry into how some people who “appeared to be trained to climb poles desecrated the sanctity” of Delhi’s Red Fort amid a farmers’ tractor rally on Republic Day.

In an interview to ThePrint, Trivedi also expressed his party’s demand for debate and deliberation on the three farm laws that are at the heart of the farmers’ protests, and condemned the “recent trend of passing acts through ordinances”.

Trivedi’s statements come at a time when West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee has accused the Narendra Modi government of being “stubborn” in dealing with the matter .

“The farmers have been sitting at Delhi’s border for two months without violating any law. The Centre could have called an all-party meeting or a chief ministers’ conference to discuss the issue. But it is stubborn as usual,” Banerjee said at an informal discussion with selected reporters at a Republic Day programme at the state governor’s house (Raj Bhavan) Tuesday.

According to Banerjee, the government should have called an all-party meeting or a chief ministers’ conference to discuss the issues related to the farm laws. She had also reacted to the violence on Republic Day, saying the Modi government “should have acted in a wiser way in dealing with the protesting farmers”.

Later in the day, she tweeted that she was “deeply disturbed” by “worrying and painful developments that have unfolded on the streets of Delhi”.

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Deeply disturbed by worrying & painful developments that have unfolded on the streets of Delhi.

Centre's insensitive attitude and indifference towards our farmer brothers & sisters has to be blamed for this situation. (1/2)

— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) January 26, 2021

Echoing his leader, Trivedi said the laws must be “repealed” first, as there is “no law to keep any act in abeyance”.

‘Whose script was it?’

Trivedi categorically condemned the violence that occurred in Delhi on Republic Day.

“Nobody is justifying violence. Violence needs to be condemned in all forms. There is no place for violence in Gandhi’s land,” he said.

But Trivedi also wondered how the security forces in charge of protecting the Red Fort “became so fragile”, alleging that the violence appeared to be “scripted”.

“It was quite evident that the person who went up the pole (to hoist the Sikh religious flag Nishan Sahib) was a trained one. He was there to do that and he was expected to do that. How was the sanctity of the Red Fort compromised this way? Tear gas shells were fired elsewhere, but some people were allowed to occupy the Red Fort. They were just a fraction of the people involved in the farmers’ movement,” he said.

“We want to know whose script it was. They (farmers) were out in the cold for two months, protesting peacefully. It was not easy; they were not enjoying it. What exactly went wrong yesterday? How did a small group of people breach the Red Fort’s security so easily without any resistance?” Trivedi questioned.

“The country needs an answer to this. Only the central government can answer this,” he added.

The Trinamool Congress leader also claimed that there had been an “intelligence failure”.

“India has one of the best intelligence departments. They have the sharpest people there. How can we believe that the site was not protected? Is it so easy to breach the security and climb the pole?” Trivedi asked. “But a high-level inquiry is needed in the Red Fort case.”

Start afresh on laws

Trivedi said the Modi government should start afresh on this issue of farm reforms.

“Let us have a fresh beginning without prejudices and ego. Let us all get back to Parliament and repeal this. We can bring in a new law and then go for deliberation and discussion. That law can be brought after a comprehensive discussion with the stakeholders,” he said.

“Whatever is good in these bills, we should make the farmers understand those things. We can go for a debate and then pass it. There cannot be such a hurry. Democracy is a slow process,” the senior leader said.

Speaking about the Centre’s proposal to keep the laws in abeyance for 18 months, the three-term Rajya Sabha and former two-term Lok Sabha member pointed out: “There is no law under which an act can be kept in abeyance. The government is ready to wait for 18 months, as it has mentioned. So, repeal the act and wait for 18 months to pass the new bill. But, the government is stuck on its ego.”