3 Crane Bedi myths that the BJPs CM candidate doesnt want you to know Kiran Bedi, who parachuted to the BJP last week and went on to be anointed as the partys chief ministerial candidate in Delhi, is also Indias first woman IPS officer. Her no-nonsense stint as a top cop in New Delhi in the 1980s and the 1990s earned her a few titles - Iron Lady and Crane Bedi being a couple. However, a little investigation into her record as a police officer busts a few myths built around the 65-year-old politician. Presenting three of them: 1. Kiran Bedi towed Indira Gandhis car: Perhaps the most popular story from her stint as a top cop in the national capital is her claim that she towed former Prime Minister Indira Gandhis car, an incident that earned her the sobriquet, Crane Bedi. However, as it turns out, it is more a myth that Bedi has carefully sustained all these years, with a Firstpost report saying that she made that claim as recently as in 2010 when she addressed a bunch of students in Bhopal as a prominent anti-corruption activist. The truth is that Gandhi was in the US when her car was challaned, not towed, by a sub-inspector, and not Bedi, who only held the traffic portfolio in Delhi Police then. Gandhis driver had parked the PMs car in front of a car accessories dealers shop in Connaught Place. Bedis website also has newspaper reports of the incident with the whole truth. Wonder why she never denied that claim when her own website carries the truth about the towing incident. 2. Indira Gandhi hated Kiran Bedis guts: Another myth around Bedi is that she was shunted out of Delhi a day after the towing incident. The truth is her transfer to Goa came more than seven months after August 5, 1982 - the day of the challan. According to the Firstpost report, the former PM is even reported to have praised Bedi for her dedication to service and rewarded her no-nonsense cop act by giving her important assignments like the Asian Games in November-December, 1982 or the Commonwealth Summit a few days after that. 3. Kiran Bedi was denied important posts: The Firstcom.report says Bedi had a penchant for ascribing higher, exalted motives for her inability to complete her terms to explain her frequent transfers. The report asks: instead of being penalized by politicians, was she a beneficiary of her proximity to the system? Bedi was already in Indira Gandhis good books, she was invited by her after she became the first woman IPS officer in the country. Rajiv Gandhi also did not sack her despite a huge protest by lawyers in Delhi for a lathicharge she had ordered on them. Read more at: indiatoday.intoday.in/story/kiran-bedi-delhi-polls-chief-minister-crane-myths/1/414479.html
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 08:50:44 +0000
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