New Delhi: Union home minister Amit Shah has asked the Bureau of Police Research & Development (BPR&D) too study all post-independence protests in India, particularly those that took place after 1974, The Indian Express has reported. He wants the bureau to look into “financial aspects”, final outcomes and “behind-the-scene players” of those protests and come up with a standard operating procedure , as a step towards preventing “mass agitations by vested interests” in the future.

These directions, according to the newspaper, were issued when Shah spoke at the two-day ‘National Security Strategies Conference-2025’ organised by the Intelligence Bureau in July.

“The BPR&D has been specifically asked to analyse reasons, patterns and outcomes of those protests, including behind-the-scene players,” The Indian Express quoted a senior government official as saying. “It has been directed that an SOP should be formulated based on the outcome of the study to prevent mass agitations by vested interests in the future.”

The BPR&D, which works under the Union home ministry, is reportedly in the process of setting up a committee that will look into this. This team "will coordinate with state police departments for old case files, including reports of their Crime Investigation Departments".

According to The Indian Express, Shah has said that the BPR&D should rope in financial investigation agencies like the Enforcement Directorate, Financial Intelligence Unit-India and Central Board of Direct Taxes to investigate the “financial aspects” of protests.

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