Narendra Kumar's Lone Fight: Who will emerge as Singham to save IPS brigade?

Ajay Devgan as Singham

UNDER the big story of young IPS officer Narendra Kumar getting killed by mining mafia in Madhya Pradesh on the day of Holi festival, the bizarre incident of a lathi attack on yet another MP cadre IPS officer got a natural burial. Jayadevan, a 2008 batch IPS officer, was reportedly attacked by supporters of a local politician and liquor barons at Bhind area of Madhya Pradesh when he tried to shut liquor shops, found open on the dry day of Holi. Whether it’s the lathi attack or mowing down an officer by a tractor, the behind-the-act thoughts were identical. A section of the society is getting convinced that an honest police officer can be crushed to death so long as there is money power and political patronage. The honest officers who have the guts to take on organized crime modules are increasingly getting marginalized not just in Madhya Pradesh but in most states of the country. It actually does not matter whether a particular state is ruled by the BJP or Congress. The menace of mining mafia is now a national problem.

It’s a déjà vu of Ajay Devgan starred Bollywood blockbuster Singham. In Singham, the protagonist is all alone as most of his fellow police officers including his immediate seniors are in hand in glove with the political bigwigs who dictate a mafia raj. But in the end, as it always happens in idealistic Bollywood movies, better sense prevails among senior police officers, and they all unite to fight a corrupt politician.

The Killer Tractor

Will that happen in real-life neta-babu equations too? In Gujarat, many IPS officers were not comfortable with the arrest of anti-Modi IPS Sanjiv Bhatt last year because the arrest was done on a compliant filed by a police constable. When Bhatt’s wife Shewta complained to Union home minister P Chidambaram that her husband was kept in the same cell with criminals and his life could be at danger, many of his colleagues realized what happened to Bhatt could happen to them and their families too. The Gujarat IPS Officers Association immediately passed a resolution not only to support the family of the arrested IPS officer but backed Bhatt in his "fight for truth". At least 35 police officers who attended the meet to pass the resolution actually took a risk of antagonizing a powerful political establishment in the state.

Unlike in Kashmir or Manipur, an IPS officer in Madhya Pradesh does not need to encounter highly trained AK-47 wielding rebels. A brave IPS officer, like Narendra Kumar, will expect to go out all alone, chase and stop a lorry or a tractor filled with illegal stones, and bring the culprits to book. But likes of Narendra Kumar are getting increasingly alienated across India. Even Manoj Gujjar, the driver of the killer tractor at Morena, probably judged that killing of a police officer could be passed as an accident.

The IPS community needs a few Singhams to change the conventional rule-books and take on a few dishonest but highly influential political heavyweights.

Babu Marriage

a) Inderjeet Singh, a 2010 batch Assam cadre IAS, has been transferred to Rajasthan cadre on the ground of marriage to Neha Giri, a 2010 batch Rajasthan cadre IAS.

Action and Appointments

a) Manoj Joshi, a 1989 batch Kerala cadre IAS, has been appointed as joint secretary in department of personnel and training (DoPT).