Mumbai:
With Mumbai Police Commissioner Arup Patnaik under attack from some quarters, including the ruling ally NCP, for what they say is the mishandling of the protest at Azad Maidan on August 11, sources have told NDTV that Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan is reportedly not in favour of transferring the top cop.
Days after the riots, a proposal to transfer Mr Patnaik was sent by the state home department, headed by NCP's RR Patil, to the Chief Minister's Office, but was rejected by Mr Chavan, sources have told NDTV. There were also efforts to push Mr Patnaik to the vacant position of the Director General of Police (Prisons). Then, a second proposal was sent by Mr Patil's department and is now pending with the Chief Minister. However, top sources say there is no file present on Mr Patnaik's transfer.
The developments, though, point towards a larger question - is Mumbai's Police Commissioner being made the fall-guy over the riots that broke out in the city after a protest by the Raza Academy went out of control?
"If they ask me to go or take leave, I will do that. If they ask me to be here, I will be here. If I start getting unsettled on every point, I wouldn't be able to run this city for one and a half years. I won't be able to function then," Mr Patnaik said, insisting that he had handled the riots to the best of his capacity.
The opinion - over how the violence was handled by the police- is divided. The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, the Shiv Sena and the BJP have been critical of Mr Patnaik and Mr Patil's "inept" handling of the situation and have demanded their resignation. They insist the police could have been much tougher with rioters who desecrated the Amar Jawan memorial dedicated to the martyred soldier, targeted policemen injuring over 40, molested and groped policewomen and even stole their rifles. What adds to the controversy is a video clip, where Mr Patnaik is seen chiding a senior police officer and orders him to release a protestor he had just picked up. The opposition alleges the act has also demoralised the police force. Raj Thackeray, chief of the MNS, along with 43,000 supporters, held a massive rally on Tuesday in protest of the alleged police inaction.
But a certain section of civil society backs Mr Patnaik. "Is the Congress government mad? There would have been a bloody Hindu Muslim riot if it would have been any other police officer other than Arup Patnaik. He controlled that situation. And I say whoever is seeking to transfer Arup Patnaik, has lost their marbles," ad guru Alyque Padamsee explains. Mr Patnaik himself believes he saved Mumbai from communal carnage that would have erupted had his policemen opened fire on the rioters.
However, the issue is quite complex. Recently, after the serial blasts in Pune, NCP chief Sharad Pawar had been critical of his home minister RR Patil. Sources say, to take the heat off him, Mr Patnaik is now being made the scape-goat. The move, they add, would also show Mr Patil as a man who can take tough decisions.
The last word on this, still, not out.