Abingdonboy
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No i don't agree at all. The PM of India is not the PM of Belgium or the Netherlands that can cycle around their capital city with no bodyguard in sight. The PM of India now lives in the very same sanitised "bubble" the POTUS lives in and for good reason. There will always be a conflict of interests between the bodyguards and the politician but at the end of the day it has to be the professionals' call where matters of security are concerned.The SPG duties go beyond acting like B grade bollywood bodyguards. They are expected to be working WITH the PM to ensure his security. That means ensuring his personal and professional engagements are not held hostage to the SPG needs. The SPG concerned was acting like a bull in china shop.
A politicians is supposed to have unlimited "stupid crowd interactions and unnecessary good byes". Its their bread and butter.
This is why you have seen Modi use the PM's motorcade (BMWs and such) since being in office despite all the nonsense he would continue to use armoured Scorpios (I knew this would NEVER fly).
Modi needs to understand these guys are not intentionally getting in his way or holding him back out of malice but are professionals trying to do a job, their entire careers have been devoted to this objective and they are paid to do this only and they are exceptionally good at it. By pulling the kind of stunts he does (consistently) he is making their lives absurdly difficult.
Modi needs to tone it down a bit BUT, this is the issue, he is the PM, the SPG can't have its way on everything and Modi is going to keep pulling these stunts and this could all end in tears.
As @COLDHEARTED AVIATOR has alluded to, JFK was killed because he directly went against the advice of the Secret Service, they had lined up bullet proof (enclosed) limos but he wanted to go in a convertible and he even told the secret service agents who were lined next to the vehicle to back off so the public could see him, we all know how that ended.....
Since that incident the Secret Service has been empowered to dictate (yes dictate) to the POTUS their security arrangements and have not suffered another dead POTUS (Regan's assassination attempt came close and this was primarily down to some incompetance on the Secret Service's part but they have altered their SOPs and nothing similar has happened since).
The SPG guy was very quick in grabbing the bouquet from the PM's hand and came in front of the camera also.
Hence Modi scolded him by saying "what will you do standing here"
I understand this guy is the PM but at the end of the day it is these guys who are saving his *** by becoming a shield for his stupid crowd interactions and unnecessary good byes.
Yeah I saw this at the time bro and initially I was pretty annoyed, it's quite unfair of Modi to publicly scold a member of the SPG in public like that, these things should be done behind closed doors. But this is the kind of guy Modi is and what makes him the leader he is. Clearly he wants to be in the public eye as much as possible.
I've noticed that since this incident the SPG guys around Modi are VERY aware of where the cameras are pointing and where possible remove themselves from the shot and make sure not to obstruct the camera's view of the PM.