In the second part of the interview with Indian Masterminds woven around his memoirs Crime, Grime, and Gumption— case files of an IPS officer—Mr. OP Singh speaks about the tumultuous years for the UP bureaucracy, sparked off by the compulsions of coalition politics. Between 1989 and 2003, average tenure of a bureaucrat in U.P. was barely few months. Mr Singh, citing his own career, discusses the events that led to his appointment as Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of Lucknow three times: in 1994, 1995, and 1998.
WATCH SECOND PART HERE:
The first time he was appointed to helm law and order of the state capital was when he had ‘engaged’ (as he calls encounter killngs) a dreaded Gurjar gangster, Mahendra Fauji, carrying a reward of Rs 2 lakh, in Bulandshahar. BSP leader Mayawati, then a coalition partner in the state government, blamed him for her party’s debacle in an Assembly by election in Hastinapur (Meerut), as Gurjars deserted her party because of the encounter. He was transferred out from Buladhshahar to Lucknow.
Barely few months later, she pressurised the state government led by Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav to suspend him for the Fauji encounter. Yadav, however, transferred him to Allahabad as SSP Kumbh Mela. Mr Singh was transferred back to Lucknow at midnight on June 1, 1995. BSP had withdrawn support to the state government a day earlier. Again, Mr Sook charge at 1 pm on June 2 and four hours later, BSP MLAs were assaulted by Samajwadi Party workers at State Guest House on Meera Bai Marg in Lucknow. Next day, Mayawati was sworn in as Chief Minister with BJP’s support. Mr Singh was the first casualty. He was transferred out once again ‘for merely doing his duty’.
He was posted as SSP Lucknow for the third time by the then Chief Minister Kalyan Singh for the third time in 1998. His stint was known for combating organised crime in Lucknow.
Mr Singh later rose on to become the DGP of the state. He also led two formidable paramilitary forces: the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).
(In the concluding part of the interview, to be uploaded soon, Mr Singh talks about his tenue as the DGP, also known as Encounter Raj, during Yogi Adityanath’s tenue as Chief Minister.)
As the title itself conveys, the book is written very lucidly and in a racy style. This book is a must read for anyone who wants to know about the events that took place in the U.P. from the late 1980s to the summer of 2020. These include Babri Masque’s demolition, subsequent riots, Sikh terrorism in Terai and frequent political upheavals in the state, impacting the bureaucracy.
Please click on the link below to watch the first part of the interview-
