Kharge alleges 'politicisation' of bureaucracy

New Delhi: Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi accusing the government of politicising bureaucracy and armed forces by asking them to showcase its achievements of the last nine years and demanded withdrawal of such orders.

In his letter, Kharge objected to the government order issued on October 18 that, he claimed, stated 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 nine years of Government of India".

He also referred to another order of the Ministry of Defence on October 9, 2023, directing soldiers on annual leave to spend time in promoting government schemes, making them “soldier-ambassadors”.

“It is no coincidence that the last nine years correspond to your tenure in office. This (order) is of grave concern for multiple reasons,” Kharge said, alleging that senior officers are being deputed for “marketing activity” of the incumbent government.

“It 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 nine 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 Congress chief alleged. He said if senior officers of departments are being deputed for “marketing activity” of the current government, the governance of the country will grind to a halt for the next six months.

“In view of protecting our democracy and our Constitution, it is imperative that the above orders are withdrawn immediately,” Kharge told the prime minister.

“For the Modi government, all agencies, institutions, arms, wings, and departments of the government are now officially ‘Pracharaks’,” he alleged in a post on X.

“In view of protecting our democracy and our Constitution, it is imperative that the orders which would lead to the politicising of Bureaucracy and our Armed Forces must be withdrawn immediately,” Kharge also said in his post while sharing the letter. Expressing surprise at the Congress’ objections, BJP chief J P Nadda hit back at the Opposition party, saying public service delivery may be an “alien concept” for it as its only interest is to keep “the poor in poverty”. “It baffles me to see the Congress party has an issue with public servants reaching the grassroots to ensure saturation of schemes,” Nadda said in a post on X, asking, “If this not the basic tenet of governance, what is?”