A showdown with the political leadership of a State should not deter honest officers from showing the tenacity to uphold what they believe in, Vinod Rai, former Comptroller and Auditor General of India, said on Tuesday.
“We come across these situations in administrative life. But administrators need to know how to walk the razor’s edge,” said Mr. Rai, while answering questions after delivering the eighth Rajaji Memorial Lecture hosted by The Triplicane Cultural Academy, which is celebrating its diamond jubilee, and the Kasturi Srinivasan Library.
Referring to the suspension of Sub-Divisional Magistrate Durga Shakti Nagpal by the Samajwadi Party-led Uttar Pradesh government, which snowballed into an executive-legislature standoff, Mr. Rai said there were several issues to be considered, especially on how politics and vested interests were playing out in the country. He hoped the impasse would be sorted out in a manner conducive to the welfare of the country.
Earlier, in his diamond jubilee address, Mr. Rai called for debunking the oft-repeated phenomenon of “silent majority” as it was time for this majority to display the courage of conviction and ensure that common citizens got their rightful due and a government functionary performed as a servant and not a master of the masses.
Presiding over the function, Gopal Krishna Gandhi, former West Bengal Governor, said the fight against the tyranny of power and wealth must not only involve targeting high offices but introspection at the individual level too.
