Night of shame continues……

On the contrary, it was a free-for-all. A retired senior colleague of mine, whom I respected very much, wrote a centre-spread article in a renowned newspaper titled ‘Sack Him’. Though he has since passed away, I have kept the press clipping with me until date, as a reminder of those trying days.

On the evening of 18 December, the chief minister of Delhi convened a meeting of the heads of various non- governmental organizations working for women’s security and welfare. Women activists, including a few eminent lady advocates, were invited to the meeting and so was I. I took Dharmendra Kumar, my special commissioner of police (law and order) along. The meeting, we soon realized, had been convened to allow the invitees to vent their grievances and criticisms on how the Delhi Police had failed to protect the women of Delhi. It appeared to be a competition in who could punch the police harder. Both Dharmendra and I felt as if we stood before a firing squad with endless ammunition. I kept my cool up to a point, but when the proceedings became a bit too much, I reciprocated in equal measure, following which there was a relative amount of order. The meeting had clearly been held more to run us down than serve any constructive purpose.

Later that same evening, I was summoned by the Union home minister to his residence. He asked me, ‘Why is your CM staunchly against you? Today she came to see me with a large delegation of her MLAs to demand your ouster.’

I had no answer for this as I thought that she and I had shared a good relationship all along.

I left the minister’s office and during my drive home, I called the CM. Her private secretary, A.K. Tripathi, answered and put the CM on the line.

To be continued……