Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Sunday, objecting to a recent decision taken by the Centre to depute senior bureaucrats to all districts in the country as ‘Rath Prabharis’ to propagate the Union government’s development initiatives. Mr. Kharge, also voicing the concerns of I.N.D.I.A. alliance partners, said the move is gross misuse of government machinery to serve the interests of the BJP.
He said the the Enforcement Directorate, the Income Tax Department and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) are already acting as “election departments of the BJP”, and the orders put the entire government machinery to work “as if they were agents of the ruling party”. “All agencies, institutions, arms, wings, and departments are now officially ‘pracharaks’. In view of protecting our democracy and our Constitution, it is imperative that the above orders are withdrawn immediately,” Mr. Kharge demanded.
The Congress president argued that the decision is a clear violation of the Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, 1964, which directs that no government servant shall take part in any political activity. “While it is acceptable for government officers to disseminate information, to make them ‘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,” he said in the letter to Mr. Modi. Mr. Kharge said if senior officers of departments are being deputed for marketing activities of the Centre, governance will grind to a halt for the next six months.
He also cited an order by the Ministry of Defence, reportedly directing soldiers on annual leave to spend time on promoting government schemes, making them ‘soldier-ambassadors’.
“The Army Training Command, which should be focused on preparing our jawans to defend the nation, is busy preparing scripts and training manuals on how to promote government schemes. It is of utmost importance in a democracy that the Armed Forces are kept out of politics,” he reminded the Prime Minister in the letter. “The loyalty of every jawan is to the nation and to the Constitution. To force our soldiers to become marketing agents of government schemes is a dangerous step towards politicisation of the Armed Forces,” the Opposition Leader in Rajya Sabha said.
