KPS Gill : The Paramount Cop

by Rahul Chandan

In 1860, when the civil war was going on in USA, General Ulysses S. Grant under the President Abraham Lincoln, played a major role in preserving the Union, the United States of America. Americans elected Grant as President of America. In 1990s, The Paramount Cop, KPS Gill, played a similar role in preserving the Union of India. He is the Ulysses S. Grant of India. Do we Indians remember him? Gill is epitome of extreme honesty, unwavering courage, unbeatable intelligence and uncompromising patriotism. He aspired to be a Communist. His grandfather would tell him stories of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Mahatma Gandhi was his role model. In school and college, he used to practice Gandhigiri (Non-violence). His childhood ambition was to help others live with dignity and happiness but destiny had some other plans for him! He became the greatest police officer to have walked this planet.

Genres: India, Biography

265 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Harish Singhal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many great men played a role in its independence; these were Netaji Subash Chandra Bose and his INA, Mahatma Gandhi, Veer Savarkar, Chandrashekhar Azad among others. But it was only and only Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel who unified the independent princely states and founded the Union of India.

When the greatest danger occurred to the Union which was in the form of terrorism for secession of Punjab from India, it was Prime Minister PV Narsimha Rao along with Sardar Beant Singh, the former Chief Minister of Punjab, who prevented that secession and ultimately helped preserve the Union. Rao and Beant Singh achieved that through the paramount cop of the country Sardar Kanwar Pal Singh Gill.

This book is about the making of The SuperCop KPS Gill, gives account how Kps Gill was rises by his mother how she teaches him about Sikhism, School day when he decided to become a Police officer, College days,

1958–1984 When he was posted in Northern India (Assam and Meghalaya states) where he earned the title of “supercop” because of his leadership and quick decision undergoing the infiltration from the Bangladesh (Which made me realise that if congress govt weren't spineless, they could have stop the infiltration with the help of Kps Gill),

1984–1995 Director General of Police from 1988 to 1990 and then again from 1991 until his retirement from the Indian Police Service in 1995, Where he executed his Gill Plan or I should say operation black thunder. When the police had sort of forbidden themselves from any operation in the Golden Temple, which, Gill says, is contrary to all laws of policing because to tackle illegal activities the police have a right to enter wherever those illegal activities are happening. Thus it was these circumstances which had turned Golden Temple into a safe sanctuary for terrorists. He broke back bone of the Khalistani Terrorism in Punjab, In the last days of terrorism, militants issued diktats that there should be no music shows, baraat at weddings should be restricted to 11 people only there should be no serving of liquor, no meat, etc. Mr Gill used to say to his men, "Terrorists ask for this, we will do the opposite." A night show was organised in Tarn Taran, the heartland of terrorism; liquor and meat was served, music was played at high volume till 4 am. Gill himself remained in the show till the end. It was to cheer up the public and build their trust, throughout these years people used to lock themselve in their houses after 5PM because of the terrorists.

2002 As security advisor to Narendra Modi. Mr Gill again proved right what Mr Modi said to him in his first meeting, "Without cops like you there can be no democracies, there can be no political leaders and there can be no kings."

Overall a good read, go for the book if you want to read about KPS Gill, the book is not well written, could have been more artistic to do justice to the person being written about. But one must adopt the leadership qualities like KPS Gill.

[Aditya Jandial · Rating 3 out of 5]

An inspiring leader who was more than a SUPERCOP.

I rate the book a '3.5 but let me clear that the extra 0.5 star is for the SUPERCOP persona that forms the crux of the book.

At the start, I couldn't really relate to the way the book was written. it starts off with a young KPS and how he imbibed the qualities he was later known for whichI personally felt were excessive (may be because the author was too smitten by the persona that KPS Gill became larger than life right from page 1). Soon, the book catches steam when the protagonist grows up and you start hearing what people have to say about him and his experience across Assam, Punjab and Gujarat. The best part is when KPS describes different politicians and officers he has worked with.

Definitely, I would not suggest this as a guider book for how to write a book, nor sell as the best biography but there are definitely traces of what a manager should be.

[Vivek KuRa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I expected this book to be much more deeper than what it actually is. It has the general outline of his life events and his role in Punjab policing and suppression of insurgency. But what surprised me was how the author wrote just one liners for events for which a separate chapter can be dedicated. That includes Operations Woodrose. Maybe my expectation was different when I picked up this book. His own book The Punjab Story was better IMHO.

[Amandeep Singh Gill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very informative...