IAS-IPS tussle: After ‘friendly’ cricket match, ‘unfriendly’ tweet sparks fresh row

Within hours of the match, the Central IPS Association posted a tweet that raked up a storm in the bureaucratic circles, forcing a terse retaliation from the Central IAS body and a quick clarification by the UP IPS Association.

After a ‘friendly’ cricket tie on Saturday, the tense relations between IAS and IPS officers in Uttar Pradesh took a fresh hit on Sunday following a rather ‘unfriendly’ tweet by the IPS Association over the result of cricket match between the two that the police officers won.

a post-match tweet by the Central IPS Association threatened to undo all the efforts the seniors were making to paper over the cracks in the IAS-IPS relationship. (HT)

Within hours of the match, the Central IPS Association posted a tweet that raked up a storm in the bureaucratic circles, forcing a terse retaliation from the Central IAS body and a quick clarification by the UP IPS Association.

But by then the tweets had been widely shared on social media and played out on 24x7 media, much to the embarrassment of the Yogi Adityanath government.

The reply. (HT)

The cricket match – an annual feature of the Civil Services Week – was played in the backdrop of a letter war among the IAS and IPS officers, which began after a letter from chief secretary Rajive Kumar on September 7 suggested that district magistrates would also chair crime meetings in police lines.

UP DGP Sulkhan Singh objected to this and the Central IPS Association backed its state body on the issue.

During Saturday’s match seniors on both sides, including Rajive Kumar and Sulkhan Singh, were seen making efforts to play down the controversy. So did SP Goyal, principal secretary to chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

But a post-match tweet by the Central IPS Association threatened to undo all the efforts the seniors were making to paper over the cracks in the IAS-IPS relationship.

The tweet that began with ‘we did it again’ recounted the 9-wicket win but it was the end statement over ‘DNA’ that caused fresh trouble. “True to our DNA, we’re good. Period.” That was how the tweet ended.

The IAS Association retaliated by tweeting a terse objection. “Congratulations. Well deserved. DNA is good – always. Let’s not a friendly cricket match turn into a DNA test,” the IAS body tweeted. The twitterati wasn’t amused.

“Now have another game where you people can talk about neuron test,” was one of the responses to the rather embarrassing twitter war.

As the issue threatened to take an ugly turn, secretary of the UP IPS body Asim Arun engaged in damage control by requesting the Central IPS body to remove or edit the objectionable tweet that sparked fresh tension.

“A game is a game and we play it in that spirit. Further, there is no tussle between IAS and IPS in UP. There are issues of how we can provide better law and order and the two services are working together for it. UP IPS Association requests CIPSA to remove/edit its recent post on the subject,” Arun urged the Central IPS body.