Long Live the king

Minister in frisk fracas
OUR BUREAU
Calcutta, Aug. 21: The Bengal government threw its weight around after health minister Surjya Kanta Mishra was stopped for frisking by guards at a city hotel this morning, the administrative chain reaction exposing the deep-rooted prejudices against security drills despite repeated terror attacks in the country.

The incident occurred at Hotel Hyatt Regency in Salt Lake where Mishra was to take part in a meeting with his central counterpart, Ghulam Nabi Azad.

When he was stopped for frisking, Mishra called senior state officials who summoned the police, who secured an apology from the hotel personnel. The government has ordered an inquiry too.

Hearing of the commotion, Azad, who was getting ready for the meeting, rushed down from his fifth-floor room. “It’s the hotel security staff who did the mess,” Azad later said.

The almost identical reactions of the ministers from two parties — Mishra is from the CPM while Azad is a Congress leader — came although the hotel guards do not appear to have broken any rules.

The police said there was no formal list of people who were exempt from such frisking and that it was largely left to the discretion of private establishments.

Only airports have such a list, which has drawn criticism for creating a security caste system that goes against the idea that ministers should take the lead in showing other citizens how to cooperate with personnel protecting others.

The Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute had organised its governing body meeting at the hotel from 11am. Azad is the governing body chairman and Mishra its “alternate chairman”.

At the entrance, two security personnel from an agency hired by the hotel asked Mishra to stop for frisking with a hand-held metal detector after the minister had walked through the metal-detector frame. The second, manual scan appears to have upset Mishra, although random checks are considered an ideal step the world over.

“I won’t enter. I will go to Swastha Bhavan and let the meeting be held there,” a fuming Mishra told a health department official.

North 24-Parganas superintendent of police Rahul Shrivastav led a police team to the hotel and sternly addressed the staff.

“We wanted to detain the two (security) personnel but the minister himself asked us not to,” a police officer said. He said several hotel employees were questioned but no one was detained.

The issue was sorted out around 11am after hotel officials and the security personnel apologised to Mishra and he agreed to go in.

“I will not say anything on this,” Mishra later said in response to a question.

When Hyatt Regency was contacted this evening, the spokesperson said: “We have nothing to comment.”

But state chief secretary Ardhendu Sen said: “It’s a deplorable incident and I have asked the North 24-Parganas police superintendent to conduct an inquiry.”

“The private security personnel of Hyatt were conducting the security check. Despite (Mishra) identifying himself as the state’s health minister, the security personnel were adamant that he had to go through the entire procedure and said they wouldn’t allow him in otherwise,” home secretary Samar Ghosh said.

“It was a big mistake on the organisers’ part. Some of their representatives should have been at the hotel gate to receive the minister,” he added. “The minister called me from there and said he and Union minister of state for health Dinesh Trivedi had been refused entry. Then I asked the superintendent of police of North 24-Parganas to intervene.”

Ghosh said the organisers should offer an apology.

“There is something called courtesy which we expect the hotels to extend, and this should have been done in the case of a state minister,” a police officer said, without explaining if it was discourteous to frisk the countless ordinary people who underwent such checks daily.

Cancer institute director Joydip Biswas said a representative had been present to receive Mishra. “Our representative apologised to the minister but he said it was the hotel staff who should apologise,” Biswas said.

Trivedi, who is from the Trinamul Congress, arrived at the hotel around 10.45am and found the situation “extremely tense”. He said: “The health minister was very upset and said he wouldn’t enter the hotel.”

Trivedi quoted Mishra as saying: “How dare the hotel staff stop a minister?” and added: “The hotel’s security personnel were not diplomatic either and it didn’t help the situation at all. I defused the situation.”

The above incident reminds me of stories where subjects were ordered to stand with bowed heads while the royalty passed.
They were not even allowed to look at the royalty.
How could the security people dare to frisk a minister in the Left Front Government?
These are examples of the so-called people's leaders.
It is not surprising that the left front and its leaders are being kicked out.
It is because of such leaders that 26/11 occurs.
Once security is relaxed for such scums the terrorists find the loop holes and create havoc.
This Surya Kanta Mishra should be sacked by Buddha Dev Bhattachary for raising tantrums and endangering the security of the nation.