Electioneering in Bihar Assembly election is in full swing. Political parties and their leaders are not leaving any stone unturned to woo the voters in their favour. Every leader is holding as many as eight public rallies every day. But they have AC cars, choppers, maids and servants. And besides all these facilities, they need proper security as well.
This is the reason that all big leaders have a security squad. It varies with the stature of political leaders. A big leader means a tighter security cordon. But there is no one to listen to the security personnel, who protect the politicians.
News18 brings you the first account story of a CRPF commando Shyam Parihar, a member of the security squad of Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan. We were waiting for the minister when Shyam Parihar came to us and asked, “Why don’t you people show our side of story?”
Here is the story of Shyam in his own words:
Look at my condition. Due to busy schedule and high traffic, I am sweating despite being inside an air conditioned car. I didn’t even get the time to change my uniform since yesterday. The weight of my uniform is 2.5 kg, my Rifle weighs 5 kg while the weight of magazine is half kg. And when I wear a bullet proof jacket, you can add 7 kg more. Now you can understand my position. Apart from that, my duty has not been changed for the last 24 hours, looking after the security of Netaji.
No one cares about us. Due to us they are safe. But you media people also ignore us. No room for us in frame. When Netaji address public rallies, you just focus on him, you never bother to show us. Why don’t you show us Sahab? If you show us on you channel, my commander can also see me. He will feel proud that his jawans are doing great job. And he may give us reward.
We are informed just two hours before Netaji’s programme. We need to respond in quick time. You can’t even imagine our condition. Recently our sahib (Ram Vilas Paswan) had visited Banka, but we were informed just one day before it. We have to reach first at the venue. Netaji just boards a chopper and reaches the venue in no time. But we have to take CRPF bus or train to reach there. So we reached Banka by train. There was no reservation. Amidst high humidity, we travelled without reservation. Why should someone share seat with us? We completed our journey by standing in compartment. From Banka station we walked to the public rally venue.
At venue, we have to conduct thorough checks. After checking the crowd, we test the dais and after being satisfied with the preparation, we provide Ok certificate.
Since yesterday, we had been waiting for Netaji to arrive. Finally, he arrived and addressed public meeting and left the site. But we have to again board a train that too without reservation. Means, sometime we have to be on duty for 48 hours.
As far as food is concerned, sometimes Netaji’s supporters offer us few things but most of the time we have to arrange it. We have been provided a house here (Ram Vilas Paswan’s Patna residence), but the government pays the rent. We cook for ourselves. We also need to be on high alert every time. Who knows when we are asked to move. We are away from house but now this rifle is my wife. It also needs care like wife.
We have just arrived, taking rest for a while in AC. But sahib will leave for a rally in half an hour. We will move again.
Comments
0 comment