GANDHINAGAR: Large-scale transfers at the top-levels has left the Gujarat Police in a state of shock and daze. The Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, who holds the Home portfolio, issued the transfer orders late on Wednesday night to 78 senior police officers — believed to have been done with an eye on the State Assembly elections due in December next year.

The changes included the post of the Home Secretary, appointed from the Indian Police Service ranks, the Police Commissioners of the three important cities of Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara, 18 of the 25 District Superintendents of Police, a number of Inspector-General and Deputy Inspector-General level police officers and others.

While the State Government sources dismissed it as "routine administrative transfers," some senior retired police officers saw in the move "definite political motives" as such a massive dose of transfers in one go "is unheard of" in Gujarat. "This is not just transfers, but is completely overhauling of the police administration," a retired police officer said. The IPS official, who served the State police for over 40 years, said in his career he had not seen more than 15 to 20 top-level police transfers at a time.

Such large-scale changes could also leave the police administration weak because almost all the important posts would see new faces and each officer would take his own time to settle down before they could act to maintain the law and order situation, the official said. Senior police officials felt that some "upright officers" had been shunted out to less important posts such as police housing corporation, human rights cell and several such other offices where they would not be directly concerned with the elections.

The important posts from the election point of view, particularly the DSPs, had for the first time being "de-caderised." So far, the DSPs were appointed from the IPS cadre, but this time several "promotees" had been made the DSPs who could be expected to remain "pliable" for the ruling BJP during the elections, the officers said.

`Fund-raising exercise'

Some of the retired officers also felt that the move could be aimed at raising funds for the ruling party to contest the elections. Not only lakhs of rupees changed hands for the police transfers for some "lucrative posts," the officers in key places, "if given a free hand," could also raise huge funds towards "donations" to the ruling party. Mr. Modi, they believed, had deliberately made the changes at this stage to avoid interference from the Election Commission as any transfer just on the eve of the elections attracted model code of conduct and was often frowned upon or nullified by the statutory body.

Early election?

The political circles believe that the move could also indicate an early election in the State than scheduled. Mr. Modi might prefer to go to the polls six months from now if the Election Commission agreed to hold the elections and the UPA Government at the Centre did not come in the way. After the police shake-up, Mr. Modi was also expected to go for a steep dose of transfer in the IAS ranks, but that may remain confined to the levels of the Collectors and Deputy Collectors as they also acted as the returning officers and mattered in the Assembly elections, the political circles said.

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