HOW I ENDED UP WITH THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE PM’S SECURITY | EXCERPT FROM T.N. SESHAN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY | THROUGH THE BROKEN GLASS

HOW I ENDED UP WITH THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE PM’S SECURITY

Even while I was the secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Forests and Wildlife, the responsibility of protecting the PM was given to me.  It is not unusual for an IAS officer to gain experience in fields like revenue, industry, labour and agriculture. In my career until then, I
had also gathered experience in the atomic energy department and in the space research department; in these two departments, I had spent nearly 15 years. Owing to my tenure as collector in Madurai, I had some knowledge of law and order. I, however, did not have much understanding about dealing with security.
When I was in the forests and environment ministry as secretary, I had the habit of going to office on holidays, too. Though it was a holiday on 2 October 1986, I was at the office taking care of some pending work. There was a cricket match going on somewhere, so I had switched on the television and was keeping an eye on the score as I went through the files. Suddenly, the telecast stopped and a news flash appeared: ‘Rajiv Gandhi was shot at by an unidentified person. But he was unhurt. The person who shot the Prime Minister was later caught. Rajiv proceeded with his programme and did not cancel his other appointments.’ I was shocked.
The very next day, I was summoned by the PM. When I went to see him, the place was naturally swarming with policemen.
‘Seshan, I would like you to make a full inquiry into yesterday’s incident at Rajghat and submit the report to me,’ Rajiv said.
Thinking that the responsibility was rather unusual and heavy, I said that I had never handled any job pertaining to security and someone else may be more suited to the task.
‘You speak frankly. You do not fear anyone. Because of these qualities, I am giving you this job,’ Rajiv said.

‘You speak frankly. You do not fear anyone. Because of these qualities, I am giving you this job,’ Rajiv said.
As Rajiv instructed, I met B.G. Deshmukh, the cabinet secretary. A four-member committee was formed. Deshmukh, one Mr Gupta from the home department, an officer of the intelligence department and I were on the committee. I was to do the leg work and had strictly been allotted four weeks to complete the job.
Sitting in the committee room of the Cabinet Secretary, I called in everyone related to the case. As I had no prior experience in handling such matters, the work seemed difficult at first. Soon, I got the hang of it. I wrote a 150-page report about the deficiency in the security arrangements and the precautions to be taken in future. I wrote the report myself because if it were to be given to a stenographer, it could have been leaked. So, I prepared only one copy. After a committee meeting on 26 October, I gave the report to Rajiv. I do not know what he did with it. As my job was done after submitting the report, I went
back to my regular work.
A little less than two months later, on 15 December, I received a
phone call from the PMO asking me to meet the PM at the airport.
He was returning from a trip to Jaipur. I was surprised because he had
never called me to the airport before. I hastened to the Delhi airport.
Rajiv arrived and told me that he had some important work for me.
Rajiv had an imported, red, bulletproof jeep. He would drive it
himself. He sat at the driver’s seat, Chidambaram sat next to him and
I sat behind. As he drove, Rajiv told me that he wanted to implement
the security precautions I had recommended in my report. I asked
how I could help.
‘By taking security under your charge,’ Rajiv said nonchalantly.
Chidambaram agreed that it was a good suggestion, ‘And we can
replace him with another secretary in the forests and environment
ministry.’
But Rajiv did not want that. He wanted me to look after both
security and environment.
I replied: ‘Let it be as you wish.’
A week later, I got an order from the cabinet secretary’s office in
this regard.

To know more get T.N. Seshan’s biography here.