The Narendra Modi-led government on Monday withdrew the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s top Special Protection Group (SPG) security. He will have Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) cover, the home ministry has decided. According to MHA sources, the security cover has been reviewed as a periodical and professional exercise based on the threat perception. MHA officials have said that the assessment of the required security cover for Manmohan Singh was done by professionals and it was then decided to degrade it to Z+ security cover instead of deploying the Special Protection Group (SPG) for his security. “The current security cover review is a periodical and professional exercise based on threat perception that is purely based on professional assessment by security agencies. Dr. Manmohan Singh continues to have a Z+ security cover,” a home ministry official said. Similar security was also withdrawn from former prime ministers HD Deve Gowda and VP Singh two decades ago. Another former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who was not seen in public in his last few years because of his illness, had SPG cover till he died in 2018. The SPG has over 3,000 personnel. Based on threat perception, the special group covers Prime Ministers as well as former Prime Ministers and their families. Manmohan Singh’s daughters had already relinquished their SPG cover, similarly former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s foster daughter had done. In 2003, the Vajpayee government amended the law again to bring down the automatic protection for 10 years to one year – or more depending on the level of threat as decided by the centre
