by A. J. PHILIP
Mukesh Ambani, India’s most richest person and the owner of one of the world’s most expensive houses.
MY first impulse was to question the Central government’s decision to provide Z-category security to Reliance Industries chief Mukesh Ambani. Why should the Indian state provide such security to the richest man in the country, who can afford to raise a whole battalion of private security guards to protect him, his family and his property?
However, he is a tax-paying Indian citizen and the state has a duty to protect him. While he can have any number of private security guards, the law does not allow them to keep any firearms. As the story goes, Ambani had received a letter from the Indian Mujahideen that he would be killed. Now, the question is why should they send such a letter?
Let’s not go into that question for the present as the Indian security and intelligence agencies had found that the letter was not a prank and a serious threat to Ambani’s life existed. The government has decided to provide him Z-category security only after assessing the whole situation. Let’s, therefore, believe the government.
If Congress chief Sonia Gandhi’s daughter Priyanka Gandhi and her husband Robert Vadra are precious and need to be protected at state cost, surely Ambani is a national asset, which cannot be left to the mercy of the Mujahideen, Pakistani or Indian. Unlike the couple I mentioned, the industrialist has to pay for the cost of security, quoted at Rs 20 lakh per month.
As I write this, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has already taken over his security. Nearly three dozen jawans, including officers, will provide him security at his obnoxious home Antilia in south Mumbai. I will explain why it is obnoxious in an instant. A security officer wielding AK-47 will always travel with Ambani in his car, while two vehicles carrying security men will accompany him. A similar arrangement will be made for him when he visits Delhi. It is not clear how he would be protected when he travels to other places in India.
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Now, to come back to Ambani, I mentioned that his house is obnoxious. First of all, it is situated on a land which was originally meant for a Muslim orphanage. There was alleged corruption in the purchase of the plot from the Wakf. The house is called Antilia and it has 27 floors. Since the building has extra-high ceilings, other buildings of corresponding height will have 50-60 floors. It was designed by the Chicago-based architects, Perkins and Will, and constructed by the Australia-based company, Leighton Holdings.
There are 600 people employed there with the kitchen located on three floors. No one in the world has a comparable house. Of course, Ambani has a large family consisting of his mother, wife and two
children to live in a house now worth $I-2 billion!
The Herald of India for more