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BHUBANESWAR: A power outage four minutes into President Droupadi Murmu’s speech during the convocation of Maharaja Sriram Chandra Bhanja Deo University in her native Mayurbhanj district on Saturday exposed glaring security loopholes at the venue, and risks to the First Citizen during tours.
Even as the Odisha government and the varsity launched separate investigations to find out how the power lines tripped for a whole nine minutes, plunging the entire indoor hall into darkness, security experts questioned why President Murmu wasn’t whisked away from the venue. Her face visible in a dim light, presenting a threat.
As her security guards took up positions in front of the dais and security personnel switched to night-vision devices to check entry and exit points, the President continued her speech, asking the audience if she was audible. There was talk of sabotage as the microphone and air-conditioners were working.
Light and darkness exist in equal measure, says Prez Murmu
Former DGP Prakash Mishra said it was surprising that the potential threat (the audience side) was in the dark, while the dignitary was the lone face visible because of a dim light. “The audience is the perceived threat side, and they should be in the light and the dignitary should be in the dark. It is very risky to expose the dignitary to light,” he said.
The President tweaked a popular Robert Frost poem to suit the situation: “Andhar Jetiki, Aloka Setiki ehe je gahana bana, chalibi chalibi na padi bi thaki,bujiba agaru aakahi”, which loosely translates to “Light and darkness exist in equal measure. The woods are deep and dark, I will persist and keep walking until I fall asleep.”
Even as the Odisha government and the varsity launched separate investigations to find out how the power lines tripped for a whole nine minutes, plunging the entire indoor hall into darkness, security experts questioned why President Murmu wasn’t whisked away from the venue. Her face visible in a dim light, presenting a threat.
As her security guards took up positions in front of the dais and security personnel switched to night-vision devices to check entry and exit points, the President continued her speech, asking the audience if she was audible. There was talk of sabotage as the microphone and air-conditioners were working.
Light and darkness exist in equal measure, says Prez Murmu
Former DGP Prakash Mishra said it was surprising that the potential threat (the audience side) was in the dark, while the dignitary was the lone face visible because of a dim light. “The audience is the perceived threat side, and they should be in the light and the dignitary should be in the dark. It is very risky to expose the dignitary to light,” he said.
The President tweaked a popular Robert Frost poem to suit the situation: “Andhar Jetiki, Aloka Setiki ehe je gahana bana, chalibi chalibi na padi bi thaki,bujiba agaru aakahi”, which loosely translates to “Light and darkness exist in equal measure. The woods are deep and dark, I will persist and keep walking until I fall asleep.”
#Sabotage #Blackout #President #speech #Odisha #university #India #News
