Profiling of Rahul Gandhi Part of Routine Process Started by Congress Government: Sources

Just a few days after a controversy erupted over alleged snooping on Rahul Gandhi by the Delhi Police, government sources said it was a routine profiling started by the Congress government, which is carried out for 526 other political leaders including Mr Gandhi's mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Sources said the process of profiling of leaders started in 1957. Its current form was devised in 1987 during the term of a Congress government headed by former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, the father of Rahul Gandhi, in view of security issues. An elaborate "proforma" including education, age, peculiar body marks, company the leader keeps, regular visitors, preferred spots for morning walks etc was created in 1987. This format was updated in 1999 to include several new identification points, the sources added.

The profiling of Mr Gandhi's mother Sonia Gandhi has been done in 1998, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. Some of the other leaders whose profiling has been done include Pranab Mukherjee, who is now the president, former prime ministers Manmohan Singh and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, sources added.

President Mukherjee's profile was done in 2001, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2012. Mr Singh's fresh profile was created in 2011 and Mr Vajpayee's was updated in 2011.

The clarification by the government sources came after the Congress claimed that Delhi Police personnel had visited Mr Gandhi's home last week, asking about details of the 44-year-old Congress leader's appearance, like the colour of his eyes and hair.

Demanding an explanation from Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi had said, "This is Gujarat's model, not India's model... We are not a police state, this is political espionage."

The Delhi Police had claimed the visit was part of a security audit and that it was an exercise conducted in case of all members of Parliament. But the Congress was not mollified and on Saturday, its members held protests outside the home of Rajnath Singh.

The government is now bracing for a Congress onslaught on this issue in Parliament today.