On Thursday the media came up with reports which claimed that the Mathura police may soon get uniforms which would have a logo of Lord Krishna inscribed on their shoulder badges. The report also claimed that the badges would also feature the words “Tourist Police”.
This decision was apparently coming on the heels of the UP government declaring Vrindavan as an official “holy pilgrimage site”. The reason provided for such a measure was re-branding the UP Police as a more tourist friendly force.
Soon after initial reports spread, other articles came out which claimed that protests had already begun against this move.
It was reported that the former DGP of Uttar Pradesh, Brij Lal stated that such a move shouldn’t be allowed as it would affect the secular image of the police. The national spokesperson of the Congress, Vivek Bansal too opposed this move by claiming that being a secular nation, India’s governments shouldn’t publicise religion.
Just as the controversy looked like escalating, the official twitter account of the Mathura police came up with a tweet condemning such reports and claimed that no such logo has been issued:
https://twitter.com/mathurapolice/status/941229206981066752?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Even though the police dismissed and condemned such reports, it still didn’t explain as to how media reports were carrying images of such logos:
After-all if the news about these logos was fake then what explained the above picture, was this some artists impression created by the media or was it some forgery?
One possibility was that, such a “Tourist Police Mathura” might be a special police force being formed as a result of, Indian Institute of Travel and Tourism Management’s recommendation to create a Tourist Police to ensure safety in areas frequented by tourists.
Just a few moments back the Mathura police further decided to clear the air regarding the matter by tweeting out a video clip where its senior police officer is addressing the media:
https://twitter.com/mathurapolice/status/941266584487608320?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
As heard in this clip the police officer is saying that as per guidelines issued, in order to ensure safety of tourists near temples and better approachability for redressal, a police uniform containing a batch with “T” might be issued. He then stated that based on suggestions the police have also developed a few logos, one of which is the Lord Krishna one.
He thus clarified that such a logo is a mere suggestion and hasn’t been implemented. Without naming names, he negated claims of a newspaper which published the news by taking a religious angle. Further he stated that the final logo out of various designs and ideas would be finalised only after getting proper permission from the police headquarters.