As there is low threat perception to former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, the Union Home Ministry on Monday replaced his Special Protection Group (SPG) security cover with Z+ security by the Central Reserve Police Force.
After reports of removal of SPG protection to Singh, Union Home Minister Amit Shah clarified: "The current security cover review is a periodical exercise based on threat perception that is purely based on professional assessment by security agencies. Dr. Manmohan Singh continues to have a Z+ security cover."
Dr Singh stepped down as Prime Minister in May 2014 after the UPA was voted out. He has had SPG protection for five years thereafter. Currently, he currently serves as a Rajya Sabha member after recently taking oath as a member for his sixth term.
WHAT IS SPG?
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- The SPG was set up in 1985 after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984
- Initally only for PMs, the SPG Act was amended in 1991 to make former prime ministers and their families eligible for SPG cover for a period of at least 10 years
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As Dr Singh would no longer be protected by the elite force, the current SPG protectees are Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her children Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
The SPG was set up in 1985 after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984. The SPG Act was passed in 1988, extending the protection by the force only to the Prime Minister. However, when VP Singh unseated Rajiv Gandhi from the top post in 1989, the government automatically withdrew his SPG protection, but after Rajiv was assassinated in 1991, the SPG Act was amended to make former prime ministers and their families eligible for SPG cover for a period of at least 10 years, which was further amended in 2003 to limit renewal for a period of one year.
