It has also sought a detailed report from the state government on the matter.
The incident occurred when the Prime Minister’s convoy reached a flyover about 30 kilometres away from the National Martyrs’ Memorial in Hussainiwala, in Firozpur district, and found the road blocked by some protesters.
“The Prime Minister was stuck on a flyover for 15-20 minutes. This was a major lapse in the security of the Prime Minister,” the home ministry said. The situation could not have happened without the knowledge of the state police as the Prime Minister’s schedule and travel plans were communicated in advance to the state government, it added.
Modi, who landed in Bathinda on Wednesday morning, was to visit the Memorial by helicopter.
“Due to rain and poor visibility, the Prime Minister waited for about 20 minutes for the weather to clear out. When the weather did not improve, it was decided that he would visit…via road, which would take more than two hours,” the ministry said in a statement. “He proceeded to travel by road after necessary confirmation of necessary security arrangements by the DGP Punjab Police.”
The ministry added that the state government must, as per procedure, arrange logistics and security, and keep a contingency plan ready.
“Also, in view of the contingency plan, the Punjab Government has to deploy additional security to secure any movement by road, which were clearly not deployed. After this security lapse, it was decided to head back to Bathinda Airport,” the MHA said.
Modi was scheduled to visit Firozpur to lay the foundation stone for multiple development projects worth more than ‘42,750 crore.
“The Ministry of Home Affairs has sought a detailed report on today’s security breach in Punjab. Such dereliction of security procedure in the Prime Minister’s visit is totally unacceptable and accountability will be fixed,” home minister Amit Shah tweeted.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) squarely blamed the Congress government in Punjab for failure to provide adequate security to the Prime Minister.
“This incident was also a big security lapse as far as the PM is concerned. Protestors were given access to the Prime Minister’s route while the Punjab CS and DGP gave assurances to SPG that the route is clear,” BJP national president JP Nadda said in a statement.
Nadda also accused Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi of refusing to get on the phone to either address the matter or solve it.
Union minister Smriti Irani also alleged that the Punjab Government was trying to harm the PM. “Never before in the history of our country, a state government (has) knowingly constructed a scenario where the PM will be brought to harm. We know Congress hates Modi, but today they tried to harm the PM of India,” Irani said during a press conference at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi.
Responding to the allegations, Congress general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala said the BJP was using the incident to create political drama.
Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi expressed regret at the Prime Minister being forced to cut short his visit to the state, but asserted that there was no security lapse.
The CM said the entire incident will be probed and denied any security lapse or situation of any attack.