Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi raising an issue pertaining to a purported notification instructing senior government officials of the ranks of joint secretary, director and deputy secretary to be deployed as ‘Rath Prabharis’ to showcase the achievements of the government.
“For the Modi Govt, all agencies, institutions, arms, wings, and departments of the government are now officially 'Pracharaks' ! 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it is imperative that the orders which would lead to the politicising of Bureaucracy and our Armed Forces must be withdrawn immediately”, Kharge said in a post on social media platform X, while sharing the letter.
Alleging a clear violation of the Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules which bars government servants from taking part in any political activity, Kharge said making government officers to ‘celebrate’ and ‘showcase’ achievements “blatantly turns them into political workers of the ruling party”.
“If senior officers of departments are being deputed for marketing activity of the current government, the governance of our country will grind to a halt for the next six months”, the Congress chief wrote in his letter.
In his letter, Kharge also claimed the Ministry of Defence issued an order directing soldiers on annual leave to spend time on promoting government schemes. “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”, he alleged.
“It is of utmost importance in a democracy that the armed forces are kept out of politics. 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is a dangerous step towards politicisation of armed forces”, Kharge said, while demanding that the said order be withdrawn.
“If senior officers of departments are being deputed for marketing activity of the current government, the governance of our country will grind to a halt for the next six months”, the Congress chief wrote in his letter.
In his letter, Kharge also claimed the Ministry of Defence issued an order directing soldiers on annual leave to spend time on promoting government schemes. “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”, he alleged.
“It is of utmost importance in a democracy that the armed forces are kept out of politics. 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 armed forces”, Kharge said, while demanding that the said order be withdrawn.