Indian Parliament passes SPG (Amendment) Bill 2019
New Delhi/UNI/IBNS: Amid walkout by key oppositon parties-Congress and others including CPI M-the Special Protection Group (Amendment) Bill 2019 on Tuesday recieved a nod from Parliament with the Rajya Sabha passing it by a voice vote.
The Bill, moved for consideration of teh Hosue by Minister of State for Home Krishan Reddy, was passed in the Upper House by a voice vote.
Earlier, replying to a debate on the Bill, Home Minister Amit Shah said that Special Protection Group is for the head of the state and added that the government is responsible for the security of the 130 crore citizens, including the Gandhi family.
Clarifying that the Bill is not aimed at targetting one family, Shah said that security is not a status symbol.
"One thing is very clear that we have not removed the security of the Gandhi family. We have just changed the security cover," the Home Minister said and asked why the opposition remained silent and no debate and discussion was held when SPG security of former PMs, including Modi's predecessor Manmohan Singh, was removed.
"It's not true that we've brought the SPG Bill by keeping only Gandhi family in mind," Shah said.
"Laws should be same for everyone; it can't be specially made for just one family. We aren't against the family, we're against family-ism," he said.
Security breach at Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's residence:
A security breach allegedly took place at the residence of Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in New Delhi last month, media reports said.
A car drove into the house of Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in central Delhi's high-security Lodhi Estate, leading to serious concerns over the security breach, sources told NDTV.
Priyanka Gandhi's office has confirmed to NDTV that the security breach took place on November 25.
Five people including a girl came out of the car after it drove in right up to the porch near the garden at Priyanka Gandhi's house, sources told the news channel.
Speaking on the incident, Amit Shah described it as an "unlikely coincidence" that Congress workers arrived in the same car and at the same time Rahul Gandhi was expected.
He said an high-level inquiry has been intitated in the matter.
No more SPG cover for Gandhis:
The incident occurred days after UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and her two children-Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra- lost their Special Protection Group (SPG) security cover.
They now get Z-plus security cover.
The SPG cover is considered as the highest tier of security in the country.
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