Chandigarh:Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi said on Wednesday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi facing a blockade while on his way to the Ferozepur rally did not amount to a 'security lapse'.
"It was a demonstration, it is wrong to equate it with security lapse. It is a democracy, people have a right to protest. They protest. BJP leaders are trying to spoil relations by addressing press meets, but there should be no politics on this", Channi said.
"People demonstrating peacefully are being labelled a threat to the life of the PM. Nothing that happened today could have been termed a security lapse", he further noted.
"We told the PM that the weather is not good, if the tour can be postponed, then postpone it. But he continued his round", the Punjab CM said, adding that Modi was originally supposed to take a helicopter to the venue, but chose to go by road instead, the Punjab CM said.
Channi said that the role of the police had been reduced and security was being taken care of by central agencies such as Intelligence Bureau (IB), as well as the Special Protection Group (SPG).