Opposition Oppose Government Asking Civil Servants to Join in “Political Propaganda” for Ruling Party

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Oct 21: The opposition parties are up in arms against the Narendra Modi government for asking the civil servants to launch a propaganda for the ruling party highlighting “achievements” of India in the last nine years.

The Congress has raised the question how a government can involve the civil servants for “political propaganda” of the party going to the polls. The crucial Lok Sabha elections are due by May-June, 2024.

According to sources, the Union government has asked all departments to nominate officers to act as “Rath Prabharis” (special officers), who will be expected to advertise and promote the achievements of the government over the past nine years.

The officers, including those from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), will showcase the achievements of the government up to the panchayat-level as part of a “Vikasit Bharat Sankalp Yatra,” which will run from November 20, 2023 to January 25, 2024.

The October 17 letter, which the Department of Personnel and Training and the Secretary, Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare sent to all departments, said the Yatra was proposed to be organised across the country for “disseminating information, awareness and extending services at Gram Panchayat level.” It added that, “in order to coordinate for the preparations, planning, execution, monitoring of the Rath Yatra,” the government has decided to deploy Joint Secretaries, Directors, and Deputy Secretaries as “Rath Prabharis.”

One such letter, which was sent to the Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, was shared by the Congress leader Pawan Khera on X. “How can civil servants be ordered to do political propaganda for a government going into elections? IAS officers will be ‘Rath Prabharis’,” he posted.

Meanwhile, the Bahujan Samaj Party MP Danish Ali has accused Parliamentary panels of applying different standards to recent complaints filed by and against MPs from the ruling BJP.

In a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Mr Ali said claimed that the BJP MP Nishikant Dubey’s complaint against the Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra in the alleged “cash for Query’ scandal, which is under the purview of the Lok Sabha’s Ethics Committee, was being treated differently from the Opposition’s complaints against BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri for using communally charged and abusive language against Mr Ali, which is under the consideration of the LS Privileges Committee.

The established Parliamentary procedure, Mr. Ali said, is to call the complainant before the panel first, before calling the accused. “However, in contravention of all set norms, the member, who is accused of making unbecoming remarks against me, appears to have been called and it is proved by the fact that I have not been called for the committee to place my position till now,” he said. On the other hand, he pointed out, the Ethics committee which is deliberating on Mr Dubey’s complaint against Ms Moitra has called the BJP MP first, sticking to Parliamentary norms.

Mr Bidhuri was called by the Privileges Committee on October 10 but he skipped the meeting, citing a “pressing commitment.” He was campaigning in Rajasthan’s Tonk district; six days after he made the “abusive remarks” in Parliament, the BJP had appointed him in-charge of the Tonk region. No further meeting of the Privileges Committee has been called.

In striking contrast, within three days of Mr. Dubey’s October 15 letter to Mr Birla accusing Ms Moitra of taking money for asking Parliamentary questions, his complaint was referred to the Ethics panel of the Lok Sabha, which has now called for a meeting on the issue on October 26. On Thursday night, a week before the slated meeting, the Hiranandani Group CEO, who has been accused of colluding with Ms Moitra, turned approver in the case.

Mr Ali also criticised the Ethics panel chairperson Vinod Kumar Sonkar for openly discussing Mr Dubey’s complaints and the documents he has received. “I see this as a violation of Rule 275 of the Rules of Procedure in the Lok Sabha by none other than the chairman of the Ethics Committee. I also wonder how two sets of procedures are being followed in a similar set of notice/complaint,” Mr Ali said in his letter.

In a related development, the TMC has refused to join issues in the alleged “cash for query” case leaving the matter to be dealt with by the accused MP. “No comments…Regarding this issue, the TMC will not say anything… The related person may answer this, not the TMC party,” the party’s state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said.
Another senior TMC leader also said the party was unwilling to get into a controversy and thus “will be maintaining distance from it.”