Mumbai:
"There is no internal war in the Mumbai police," says D Sivanandan, the Mumbai Commissioner of Police. But even the most loyal members of that force are unlikely to buy either the claim or the sentiment behind it.
Just ahead of the anniversary of 26/11, Hasan Gafoor shared with a magazine his account of how a section of the city's police failed to protect it in its time of crisis. Speaking to The Week, Gafoor, who was the city's commissioner of the police during 26/11, said, " A section of senior police officers refused to be on the ground and take on the terrorists. By doing so they chose to ignore the need of the hour. Yes there was a dearth of eagerness on the part of a handful of senior officers to be on the ground during those days."
Gafoor could face disciplinary action for those remarks. Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan warns, "Something like this is not acceptable from a senior police officer. Instead of approaching the media, he could have used other ways to air his grievance."
In the same interview, Gafoor claimed that R R Patil, who was Maharashtra's Home Minister, and A N Roy, who was the Director General Police, wanted to ask for the National Security Guard (NSG) to be withdrawn. It was the NSG that went on to become the heroes of India's worst-ever terrorist attack.
Gafoor has said the interview misquotes him in several places.
Gafoor is not alone in blaming groupism within the Mumbai Police for hurting its efficacy.