The police serving their respective political masters will lead to the ultimate breakdown of federalism, Former Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram said on Saturday, a day after high drama between the police forces of Punjab, Delhi, and Haryana over the arrest of BJP leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga.
Mr. Chidambaram said that this confrontation was waiting to happen since the police in each State was following the political cue. The arrest of Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani in Assam for a tweet he posted from his home State gave a clue to what lay ahead.
“This was bound to happen someday. Punjab, Delhi, and Haryana police confrontation is an example of what lies in store in the future. Police serving their respective political masters will lead to the ultimate breakdown of federalism that is already in peril,” Mr. Chidambaram tweeted.
The former Home Minister argued that the “autonomy“ of a State police force must stop at the border of another State and the police of the first State must take the consent of the other State. “Otherwise, federalism will be dead and buried,” he said.
Interestingly, his comments come at a time when in Chhattisgarh, on a complaint filed by State Health Minister T.S. Singh Deo, the State police registered a first information report at the City Kotwali police station in Jagdalpur town, the headquarters of Bastar district, against BJP leader Kapil Mishra and two others for allegedly spreading through their tweets “false and malicious” information against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his visit to Nepal.
