Gujarati copy of same article

Ahmedabad, 27 September 2012

Shows of strength in October

There are three ‘shows of strength’ planned by political parties possibly in October. The Congress party will hold a public meeting in presence of Sonia Gandhi on 2nd or 3rd October in Saurashtra. This is almost final. The BJP may hold a massive show of strength in Amdavad on 7th of October when Narendra Modi is going to complete 11 years as CM. This is not final as of yet. Gujarat Parivartan Party led by Keshubhai Patel will organize a grand rally in Amdavad on 31st of October ‘Sardar Patel birth anniversary’ day. This is final, and announcement on this has already been made yesterday by Gordhan Zadafia.

The reason behind Keshubhai’s absence was small enough

Keshubhai Patel led Gujarat Parivartan Party organized the inauguration of the regional office on Wednesday. The office situated in Ratnamani Complex near Gandhigram Railway Station is just a few steps away from the Vishwa Samwad Kendra of RSS. On the first floor of the commercial building, the party has bought a place like an open hall which will be called city office of the party. On the second floor, offices are designed for Keshubhai Patel and Gordhanbhai. The hall on the third floor of the commercial building will be dedicated exclusively to press conferences. Today Gordhan Zadaphia and Suresh Mehta addressed journalists in the hall without mike and they were not audible enough. Besides, at the back of the dais, there was a large sliding window. That is why, the shutterbugs had to deal with the problem of glare. In addition to that, Gandhigram station is quite near to the office so that the leaders will have to take regular breaks whenever the trains pass by the station during the Press Conference. Yet, the coordinator of the office firmly said that the window will be covered with a banner and the press conference room will be centrally air conditioned in a few days. Before the next conference, all work will be completed.

We encountered Shetal Pandya at the press conference, who accompanies Keshubhai Patel like a shadow, but Keshubhai himself was missing. We asked Shetal the reason for Keshubhai’s absence and whether he was busy with the preparation of Yatra starting from tomorrow? Shetal responded, it is something like that only. But we received interesting and candid answer from other sources.

One senior man clarified that the regional offices are situated on the first, second and the third floor of the building and the elevator is not working well and Keshubhai cannot climb up the floors.

When I ask whether the elevator ever works or not then he replied that it will get repaired soon and Keshubhai will come to after that.

Well, Gujarat Parivartan Party indeed needed a good office. Gordhan Zadaphia’s old office situated at Abhinav Arcade in Paladi was as tiny as a small store. In past he once called the conference for Mahagujarat Janta Party at Paladi office and he regretted later on. Because in such tiny space, the journalists were not able to sit properly and that is why the appropriate atmosphere for the conference was not created. After this bitter experience, Gordhanbhai started organizing Press Conferences at Circuit House Annexe but the journalists avoided long journeys to Shahibagh most of the time. The reporters working for a TV channel do have a facility of car, but the news paper reporters hardly have handsome salaries and therefore they travel mostly on two wheelers. That is why, they had to take great trouble in reaching Circuit House or Gandhinagar(Keshubhai’s house). Today Gordhan Zadaphia announced that Abhinav Arcade office will be used as a godown for Party’s documents. We must consider that before Abhinav Arcade, Zadaphia’s Mahagujarat Janta Party office was situated in a flat near Abhinav Arcade. This flat was owned by a doctor who was murdered while making love with a nurse, his girlfriend, in car near Vasana barrage. Zadaphia left that flat in some time after this incident.

By the way, another buzz that took over even the gossip about Keshubhai’s absence was- Who sponsors the party huge amount of fund? Now the answer is obvious. Isn’t it?

On Tarun Barot

Tarun Barot, the DYSP of Mahesana who got arrested by CBI this Tuesday was some time ago leading the security ring of Shree Narendra Modi. Generally, Modi is guarded by several layers of security rings whenever he is in Ahmedabad. Tarun Barot was leading the second ring from center. This duty was allocated to Barot considering his vast experience in tackling cases related to terrorists and criminals. Even in the huge crowd, it was nearly impossible for a criminal to escape from the keen sight of Tarun Barot. At least in Ahmedabad, he was unsurpassed. During the coverage of CM’s programms in Amdavad, I often used to exchange ‘Kem chho’ ‘majaamaa’ with Tarun Barot, and later I used to get involved in reporting and he in security.

I first met Tarun Barot in our residential society. The members of our society had called police to inform about a suspicious abandoned bag found outside the Navratri Utsav of the society. That bag had spread anxiety in the residents. The city police was also strictly instructed to pay special attention to security measures during Navratri. And ours is the society of wealthy – meaning over cautious and soft people. Police was called and everyone was standing a hundred feet away from that bag. All kinds of rumors and guesses were raising the tension level. The van of local police had reached there but they too were standing away from the bag. The inspector of Ellis bridge police station reached there and instructed everyone to stay away from the bag and called the bomb squad. He too stayed far away from the bag. But before squad reaches, the famous Crime Branch officer Tarun Barot was there to remove anxiety and fear of people.

Barot quickly observed that the bag was placed outside of the Garba plot. Who will place bag full of explosives where nobody will die or even get injured! Barot with his extensive experience and intuition came to the conclusion that the bag contains nothing injurious. Then he threw torch light on the bag and rushed quickly near the bag. A few minutes later he confirmed that the bag contains no explosives. But the residents of the society were not yet convinced and were afraid of going closer to the bag. After observing this, Barot kicked the bag forcefully. In no time PI of Ellis bridge hurried to Barot and informed him that bomb squad is arriving soon. The squad arrived. They checked the bag with sniffer dog and machine but nothing harmful was detected. But the police was still afraid of moving closer to the bag. At last, it was Tarun Barot who started kicking the bag and playing football with it. This way he torn the bag and handed it to the Police.

When the residents asked him aren’t u afraid of bomb? He showed them a photo of Lord Krishna in his wallet and replied, “I keep God always with me”.

Every Rathyatra season, Tarun Barot remains close to the main Ratha. May it be Dariyapur or Shahpur, criminals choose to stay away from Tarun Barot. The sources of information too have blind faith on him. Even Muslims know that Barot is good for people and only bad for the criminals. In 2002 and 2003 when Rathayatra entered Dariyapur/Shahpur, IPS officers did not dare to step out without protection helmet, but Barot could manage the security of Dariyapur and Shahpur only with a stick in his hand and without any protection gear.

During Godhara carnage, when riots got prolonged without any reasons, scattered incidents of stabbing near Tran Darvaja, Relief Road and Biscuit Gulli were blamed for this. All these areas had Muslim majority. If was happening often that Hindu two wheeler driver when passed from these areas some rioters would stab him and then fled in the streets. This was one of the reasons that days behind prolonged riots. Tarun Barot started sitting over a chair outside the streets to put full stop to the riots.

Gujarat Samachar was favoring Congress during 2007 elections. Congress adopted “Chak De Gujarat” slogan during the election and Gujarat Samachar too launched a new page named “Chak De Elections” showing loopholes of BJP rule. When BJP won the Gujarat elections, BJP party members and workers rushed to Gujarat Samachar headquarter. The office of Gujarat Samachar is only a few steps away from the BJP headquarter. Enticed by victory, a huge group of BJP workers headed towards Gujart Samachar office with slogans like “Gujarat Samachar down down”. My vehicle was parked near Gujarat Samachar office and I ran hastily towards the office to save my vehicle from the wrath of the protestors. I saw Tarun Barot standing near BJP headquarter. He knew me as the reporter from Gujarat Samachar. I requested him to stop the crowd else it will create a big mess. Tarun Barot instantly took action. Along with his staff, he stood in front of JP Chowk like a wall. Not because of the fear of Police, but because of great respect for Tarun Barot, the crowd turned back raising slogans only. During that time period, I instructed security to close the gates of Gujarat Samachar building.

Let me share one more such incident of Tarun Barot that I heard years back. One day, Mr.X was passing by Vishala, driving his Qualis car. The police stopped his car and told him that their superior wanted to meet him. When the car driver crossed the road, he encountered Tarun Barot sitting with other police staff. Barot requested him that he needs his car and his service just for a few time. Mr. X undoubtedly couldn’t deny. Barot and his co-workers dressed in regular clothes to cover their identity parked themselves in the Qualis car of Mr. X speedily. The glasses of the car were shut instantly. As per Barot’s instructions, that man drove into the narrow and puzzling lanes of Juhapura. The car stopped at a spot and Barot and his team members stepped out from the car. The team caught the criminal in a blink of an eye. They forced him into Qualis and instructed the driver to take the car back to Vishala. The driver was shocked and dumbfounded. Tarun Barot soothed him by saying that he need not fear at all. His service was required just because the criminal cannot elope from the area like Juhapura after watching the regular Police jeep.

There are many such breath taking incidents which can be mentioned here. Before concluding, I would like to mention one very interesting incident that recently took place. Tarun Barot recently paid a visit to Shani Temple in Dudheshwar area of Amdavad. Coincidentally the Congress chief of the city was also there. The Congress leader smiled and asked Barot, “How are you? Offering Pooja?” Barot with stern face gave him strong reply that thanks to you(Congress) people I have to visit temples and do pooja these days.

In general, it is risky to call a police man an honest man. But it is general observation that the son of a mill worker, Tarun Barot has kept himself miles away from money making practices. He doesn’t own farm houses and pieces of lands like some other police officers. His house is still in modest middle class locality of Bapunagar area.

Congress leaders definitely deserve thumbs down for sending Tarun Barot to jail before elections just for political purposes. They have not even considered that Barot was originally a Congress promoted policeman. Congress leader Prabodh Raval was the person behind emergence of Tarun Barot in early days.