Cover of the book written by Ex-UP DGP O P Singh.
Credit: Amazon
New Delhi: The Lucknow 'state guest house incident' of 1995 in which BSP supremo Mayawati was alleged to have been encircled by Samajwadi Party supporters during a power tussle between the two alliance partners made former Uttar Pradesh DGP O P Singh a 'pariah' and a 'villain' for this episode, recalls the officer.
The 1983-batch Indian Police Service officer has come out with his memoir Crime, Grime & Gumption: Case files of an IPS officer and dedicates a long chapter to this infamous and controversial episode.
Singh, who hails from Gaya in Bihar, retired from service in January 2020 and headed two central forces— the CISF and the NDRF— during his 37 years of service in the police, a fairly long career for an IPS officer.
Calling the 'guest house' incident an 'indecorous' political drama in the history of modern-day India under a chapter titled Tsunami Years, he says this event "not only changed the politics in UP but impacted the politics of the country as a whole".
Singh gives a blow-by-blow account of the events that took place on June 2, 1995, the day he took charge as SSP (Lucknow).
He recounts it was around 2 pm when he got a call from the Director General of Police (DGP) about some 'disturbance by unlawful elements' at the guest house located on Meera Bai Marg. He along with the district magistrate and other officials reached the spot at 5:20 pm.
Mayawati, who was staying in suite number 1 and 2, was meeting her MLAs at the guesthouse amid the buzz that the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) had withdrawn support from the Mulayam Singh Yadav-led government, Singh writes.
"The situation was quite precarious for the power supply was down and the telephone lines were dead. There was complete chaos," he says.
"Make sure suites one and two are doubly secure", he directed the officials and a sudden commotion erupted with a BSP MLA literally being carried away in the grip of arms. Soon, the police resorted to baton charge and Singh states that he remained at the guest house till things were normal.
The officer says 'stories and rumours' about the developments at the guest house 'ran wild' including the entry of an LPG cylinder in the premises.
Mayawati expressed desire to have tea and after the estate officer informed that there was no cooking gas in the kitchen, a cylinder was arranged from the neighbourhood, he writes.
"The sight of the cylinder as it was being rolled towards the kitchen area, and the grating noise caused by it, sparked a rumour that there was an attempt to set Mayawati on fire. This was but another addition to the shock and misery that awaited me," he goes on to say.
Mayawati, Singh says, wrote a letter the same day to the governor alleging that SP members gathered at the guest house attacked and took away some of the BSP workers "right under the nose of the police and district administration officials present".
"As a police officer, I was again caught in the crossfire of the insidious kind between two political parties, playing their power," Singh writes, adding that the governor dismissed the Mulayam Singh government that very night and Mayawati was sworn in as the new chief.
Singh was suspended by the new government, a day later, on June 4, 1995.
"Why me? There were four of us (at the guest house). Three besides me, the DM, the ADM (City) and the SP (City) and only I was suspended...It was obvious that I had been chosen to be suspended," he says.
This was the beginning of his being treated like an outcast by his 'spineless seniors' and colleagues, the retired IPS officer writes.
"Once again, more than the politicians, it was my seniors and their submissive demeanour that disappointed me... I can never forget the body language of a senior IPS officer when I called on him post my suspension. He was very uneasy with my presence in his office and he ensured I realised that I was the most unwanted person around him. Such was the terror of Mayawati in those days that no officer wanted to be seen with me. Overnight I had become a pariah," he says.
He also recounts how his senior officer "literally turned him out of his office".
Singh mentions in his book he was slapped with two FIRs related to the guest house incident and in "each of them, I was named the villain, the villain who was nursing a grudge against Mayawati and was involved in the kidnapping of legislators".
He was reinstated in service by the government a few months later and the cases against him were also withdrawn.
Three years later, Singh says, he got an opportunity to meet Mayawati in Azamgarh when he was posted as the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of the Azamgarh range.
"I have nursed this feeling for a long time, Madam. To meet you and clear some concerns. With all due respect, I have some direct questions for you, I was upfront and direct," he writes.
Mayawati replied: "Aap poochiye (you ask). Her wide eyes and direct eye contact were a clear indication that she was all ears." Singh writes that with a quivering voice he pulled himself together and asked what was his fault on the fateful day of June 2, 1995? "Madam, why? Why was I singled out? I am an apolitical officer. My entire service record will tell you that...", he told Mayawati.
"Was the punishment a reward for doing the right job... I stopped again. I was shivering. I lowered my eyes to collect myself. Mayawati didn't say a word all this while. By now I had a feeling I wouldn't be getting a clear answer," Singh says as he soon left without a reply from the politician.
The book goes on to mention other important events during his tenure as the DGP including the Kumbh mela at Prayagraj in 2019, the general elections that took place that year, the maiden Police Commissionerate system brought by the state government at his behest in 2020 and the Ayodhya verdict given by the Supreme Court.
The officer also praises Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's working style.
The book further mentions in detail Singh's earlier tenures including tackling Khalistani terrorism in the 'Terai' areas of the state that border Nepal and being on the 'target' of terrorists during his stint as the SP of the Lakhimpur Kheri district.