PRESIDENT'S POLICE COLOURS

Pallab Bhattacharyya

(Pallab Bhattacharyya is a former director-general of police, Special Branch and erstwhile Chairman, APSC. Views expressed by him is personal. He can be reached at pallab1959@hotmail.com)

Mike Lynn Parson, the American Republican politician once famously said "Police officers know that each time they put on their uniform, they are taking on risks to protect others. In every country, the police are formed to make themselves a law system. This is the police, because of which we all sleep in peace. There is no festival, the day or night the police are always stationed for our safety. Usually, we identify the police only with their uniform".

The Home Minister of India, Shri Amit Shah is conferring President's Police Colours to the Assam Police on 10th May at the Nehru Stadium. This is a ceremonial function that all the members of the police force aspire to be an occasion to celebrate. The history behind the conferring of colours to a force is an interesting episode of human emotions in general and the uniformed forces in particular.

If one goes through the trendsetting book "Sapiens - A Brief History of Humankind" by celebrated Jewish author Yuval Noah Harari, one can understand how Homo sapiens started forming cultures and society through a series of evolution and move forward in groups under some leaders. The same process can be thought of for the evolution of military, armed and police forces. In the Indian context, during the Vedic period instances of Dhwajas or Banners/Flags carried by different warring groups were found in abundance. If an army loses its flags to the hands of the enemy, then it means disgrace and if the army captures the flag of the enemy, then it means a national honour. Similarly, in modern-day contexts, sportsmen or adventurers carrying the flag of the country in international events or climbing to the top of a pinnacle is an honour that all of us cherish. So far as military organizations are concerned, though the origin of the practice of carrying flags/colours is unknown, historians are of the view that it can be traced back to the ancient Egyptian or the primitive Assyrian Empire when this tradition was prevalent.

On the penultimate day of India becoming a republic, all the Colours of the British King (33 in all) were handed over to the Indian Army and the nomenclature of the ceremony was changed to the President's Colours in conformity with the Head of the State as enshrined in the Indian Constitution. Similar traditions of the offering of Colours to the Indian Navy took place in May 1951. The Indian Air Force also followed the suit.

So far as Indian Police is concerned 10 states have been granted President's Police Colours-UP (23-11-1952), Delhi Police (1954), Maharashtra Police (1961), J&K Police (26-06-2003), Tamil Nadu (August 2009), Tripura Police (11-01-2012), Gujarat Police (15-12 2019), Himachal Police (01-12-2021), Haryana Police (17-01-2022) and now Assam Police (10-05-2022) and Mumbai Police Commissionerate (01-12-1951).

The President's colours are bestowed on a military force unit in recognition of their exemplary and exceptional service rendered to the nation. Delhi Police officials have started wearing the Insignia culled from the Colours on their uniforms starting from 16th February 2022 only though it was presented the Colours way back in 1954. It is expected that Assam Police starts wearing uniforms in conformity with the President's Colours at the earliest opportune moment and take pride in their rich traditions.

It is worthy to mention that the process for gaining the President's Colour is an elaborate one. It is heartening to know that the IIT professor who is credited with the designing of the Indian rupee sign, Shri Udaya Kumar Dharmalingam is also involved in the entire elaborate process. We must remember Shri Jayanta Narayan Choudhury who initiated the process and obtained the colours during his tenure as DGP-Assam but could not organize the function because of his transfer to NSG. Shri Pradeep Kumar and Shri AK Sinha Casshyap (both retired DGPs) had taken commendable steps in the entire process of obtaining the Colours. We, as the retired diaspora of Assam Police, are grateful to the above three officers and specifically present DGP Shri Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta for pro-actively spearheading the programme to see the light of the day. A well-thought exercise for spreading the awareness and significance of the award of President Colours to Assam Police throughout the length and breadth of the State, with intermittent hiccups notwithstanding, has already been started with its proposed culmination on the 10th of May. However, every member of Assam Police must also keep in mind that with the conferment of President's Colours the expectation of the general public towards them will increase manifolds. The enormous responsibility now they face catering to the new and ever-increasing aspirations of people and challenges they are going to face in the days to come to require a collective mindset change and periodic training which, I am sure, the top brass of the police force and the Government will take care of. Society should also acknowledge the words of Tom Cotton: "Police officers put the badge on every morning, not knowing for sure if they will come home at night to take it off"