Tight security for PM's rally: CCTV on all routes leading to venue, snipers atop buildings

Elaborate security arrangements have been made for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally on Sunday at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan, which is a little over a kilometer away from Old Delhi's Daryaganj that was hit by violence on Friday during the protest against the amended Citizenship Act. According to a senior police official, 20 companies of outside force will be deployed. Each company has 70-80 personnel.

"Twenty DCP rank officials will be there. As many as 1,000 personnel from local police, anti-drone teams, and NSG commandos will be there. The entire area around the venue will be sanitized," the official said. Area sanitization means that the movement of locals will be restricted, shops will be closed and security personnel will be deployed.

Apart from this, traffic police personnel will also be deployed along the route to be taken by the prime minister, the official said. According to sources, senior officials remained in huddle till 5 am on Saturday to discuss the security arrangements. In the meeting, among other things, it was decided that social media should be monitored to stop rumor-mongering, especially in the wake of ongoing protests against the contentious legislation.

Checking of vehicles has been stepped up on border areas to ensure that "unscrupulous" elements do not enter the national capital to disrupt the rally, the sources said. A multilevel security arrangement will be in place on Sunday, with CCTV surveillance of all the routes leading to the venue and snipers being positioned atop buildings to ensure security, they said.

The Delhi Police is in close touch with the SPG and the Bharatiya Janata Party for the security arrangements during the programme. The Delhi BJP has also deployed volunteers as part of its security arrangements for the rally. In a statement, senior BJP leader Vijay Goel said preparations for the rally, which is being organised to thank Prime Minister Modi for giving ownership rights to 40 lakh residents of 1,731 unauthorized colonies, are in full swing.

A total of 11 lakh signatures by residents of unauthorized colonies will be handed over to Modi as a thankyou gesture, he said. Goel, the convenor of arrangements at the venue, said more than two lakh people are expected to attend the rally which will be dominated by youths and women.

Cutouts of PM Modi, BJP president, and Home Minister Amit Shah and Working President J P Nadda have been put up around Ramlila Maidan. "This rally will also symbolize that after winning seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, the BJP is in full-swing in preparations for the Delhi Legislative Assembly elections as well," Goel said.

He said that LED screens have been installed in several places. Outside the premises, people from Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Jammu, and Kashmir, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh will be playing 'dhol'. The BJP has majorly focused on unauthorized colonies in this rally because this will become a big issue in the upcoming Delhi elections. A tableau of the unauthorised colony has been installed too.