The sight of police personnel lined up alongside the road from Shamshabad, Telangana, from the past a few days is unmissable. Around 11 kilometres long road from there to Statue of Equality in Muchintal village in the mandal is interspersed with police from the past a few days.
Their presence becomes pronounced from Ghansimiyaguda village which is around two kilometres from the Ashram where the 216-foot tall statue of saint Ramanujacharya is located.
The security is denser as one nears the Ashram of Tridandi Chinna Jeeyar Swamy. In fact, the police are found on guard on deserted part of roads too. The stakes are high.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s convoy was stuck on a flyover for 15-20 minutes as protestors blocked the road in Hussainiwala, Punjab, on January 5.
Exactly a month after this, the PM would visit Muchintal and dedicate the Statue of Equality to the world on February 5.
Besides him, the list of our country’s top VVIPs who are scheduled to visit the village is long. President Ram Nath Kovind will inaugurate the 120-kg gold idol of Ramanujacharya on February 13. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and others too are set to visit on different dates.
The security is tightened days before the visit of the top VVIPs, and will be on guard till February 14. Cyberabad Commissioner of Police Stephen Ravindra said that around 7,000 police personnel were deployed in and around Muchintal. They include those from Law and Order, Anti-Sabotage, She Teams, Access Control teams, and others.
Villagers of Muchintal have never seen such huge police presence in and around their village. “Let alone police, we did not see so many people visiting our village,” said A Indramma sitting at a tea shop. Recalling the incident in Punjab, others sitting in the store wondered if they will be allowed to step out of their homes when the PM visits their village.
When asked if they were asked to restrict themselves from stepping out on Saturday, D. Chandraiah said no such condition was imposed. Police personnel posted near the village too said that no such instructions were received. “But we never know,” said a police constable.
