Senior Congress leader and Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has opposed top retired bureaucrats and police officials joining politics and seeking election as it will set a dangerous trend.
Talking to journalists here on Wednesday, he said that though the Constitution barred no citizen from joining politics, top retired civil and police officials joining politics would set a dangerous trend as they had access to the country’s secrets and were bound to maintain them. “Their entering electoral politics could be right according to law, but it will set a dangerous trend. We need to find a way out [to prevent them from joining politics],” he said in reply to a question. A person who had served as Home Secretary would have known many secrets, which even ministers might not know.
Similarly, the Research Analysis Wing (RAW) and Intelligence chiefs would have known the country’s secrets, he pointed out.
Mr. Chidambaram’s remarks assumed significance in the backdrop of the former Army Chief, Gen. V.K. Singh, joining the BJP, and more recently the former Tamil Nadu Directors-General of Police, A.X. Alexander, and R. Nataraj, joining the AIADMK.
