Congress President and Leader of Opposition (Rajya Sabha), Mallikarjun Kharge, has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking for withdrawal of two orders stating “gross misuse of government machinery” “in service of the ruling political party.” He stated that in addition to the Enforcement Directorate, the Income Tax Department and the CBI already acting as “election departments of the BJP”, through the two orders, the ruling party mean to politicize bureaucrats and soldiers.
The first order the AICC President was referring is the circular dated 18th October 2023 which states that senior officers, of ranks as high as Joint Secretary, Director, and Deputy Secretary, are to be deployed to all 765 districts of India as “Rath Prabharis” to “showcase achievements of the last 9 years of Government of India.” Kharge maintained that the order was a clear violation of the Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, 1964, which directs that no government servant shall take part in any political activity.
He added that to make government officers “celebrate” and “showcase” achievements blatantly turns them into political workers of the ruling party. The fact that only “achievements” of the last 9 years are being considered, gives away the fact that this is a transparently political order in the run-up to the five state elections and the general elections of 2024, the Opposition leader further said.
Kharge also expressed concern for the governance in India if senior officers are deployed for “marketing activity of the current government.”
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The second order he referred to was issued by the Ministry of Defence on 9th October 2023, directing soldiers on annual leave to be “soldier-ambassadors”, spending time on promoting government schemes. The Army Training Command, which should be focused on preparing our jawans to defend the nation, is busy preparing scripts and training manual on how to promote government schemes, he stated.
The Congress President asserted that in a democracy, it is of utmost importance that the Armed Forces are kept out of politics. “To force our soldiers to become marketing agents of government schemes is a dangerous step towards politicization of the Armed Forces,” he stated.
Kharge also maintained that the much deserved annual leave of the jawans was being hijacked for political purposes.
“… it is essential that government machinery is kept out of politics, especially so in the months leading up to an election”, he stated, adding that the two orders put the entire government machinery to work as if they are agents of BJP. Kharge stressed that it was imperative to withdraw the circulars immediately to protect India’s democracy and the Constitution.
Replying to Kharge’s allegation, BJP National President JP Nadda stated on X, “public service delivery is the duty of a government” and the Congress was against the saturation of schemes because it “only has an interest in keeping the poor in poverty.”
“It baffles me to see the Congress Party have an issue with public servants reaching the grassroots to ensure saturation of schemes,” Nadda added.
