PM Modi praises Gujarat IPS officer's role during his chief ministerial days

NEW DELHI: While addressing young IPS officers passing out of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reminisced how SVPNPA director Atul Karwal, a Gujarat cadre IPS officer who once handled his security detail as state chief minister, had firmly but politely advised him then against breaking the laid-down security protocols. The prime minister praised Karwal not only for tactfully communicating to him almost 20 years back how he, as a public figure, must follow all security protocols, but also for his interest in taking up roles relating to training “when he can easily get any posting”.Modi recalled how he, during his initial days as CM, was not comfortable with his elaborate security detail and would sometimes deviate from the rulebook to alight from his vehicle and mingle with the public. Modi said Karwal once sought time with him and when they met, expressed his reservations against these breaches. “He was a junior officer but looked the chief minister in the eye and expressed his displeasure. He told me you cannot go on like this, you cannot alight from the car, you cannot mingle with crowds. I asked him if he would rule my life. But he did not budge; he told me I was not a private person but a public figure, whose security he had been entrusted. He requested me to follow the rules adding that he would ensure this was done,” said Modi. The prime minister said he was impressed by how Karwal had made his point with due respect for democracy and a people’s representative, but at the same time politely but firmly communicating the demands of his duty. Karwal is a fitness freak and had conquered Mt Everest in 2008. He is an ultra-marathoner and a triathlete; has completed the 12-week police commando course with National Security Guard in 1994; is a ‘Black Belt’ in martial arts; and trained in scuba diving and sky diving.This is Karwal’s second stint in SVPNPA. He had served there as assistant director (outdoor training) from 1998 to 2002.