New Delhi, Dec 17:
Militancy in Jammu and Kashmir, cross-border terrorism and attempts to radicalise youth will top the agenda of the annual conference of Directors General and Inspectors General of Police to be held at the site of the tallest statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in Gujarat, beginning December 20, officials said Monday. Issues like clashes due to communal tension, circulation of communally sensitive news and pornographic materials through social media are also expected to be discussed at the three-day meeting, a Union Home Ministry official said. The 182-metre ‘Statue of Unity’ of Patel was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Gujarat’s Narmada district on October 31. Taller than the Statue of Liberty in the US, the Statue of Unity has been built on islet Sadhu Bet near the Sardar Sarovar Dam. The top police officers of the country will be closeted for multiple sessions of discussions on issues concerning the country, including militancy in Jammu and Kashmir, cross-border terrorism, attempts to radicalise youth, Naxal menace and the situation in the Northeast, the official said. The Statue of Unity has been chosen as the venue as the alma mater of the top police leadership of the country, the Indian Police Service (IPS), has a close association with Patel as their training academy in Hyderabad is named after him, they said. The IPS academy is named Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel National Police Academy. Patel was the country’s first home minister and the Home Ministry is the cadre controlling authority of the IPS. The DGPs and IGPs will be hosted in the ‘tent village’ that is being set up near the statue in Kevadiya village. The conference is an annual affair where senior police officials of the states and the Centre meet and discuss issues related to internal security, crimes and related challenges, another official said. The Modi government has been organising this meeting outside the national capital since it came to power in 2014. The last four such conferences were held in Guwahati, Rann of Kutch in Gujarat, Hyderabad and Tekanpur in Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior district. The Statue of Unity was first conceptualised by Modi during his tenure as Gujarat chief minister. He had laid the foundation stone for it in 2013.
Patel, also India’s first deputy prime minister, is credited with merging of over 500 princely states into the Union of India.
