Jaipur, Oct 13 (PTI) The appointment of a retired army officer as a member of the Rajasthan Public Service Commission has mired into controversy after some videos of its newly appointed member Lt Col Kesari Singh Rathore surfaced online where he is purportedly seen making casteist statements.
Rathore is among the three members who were appointed on Monday, shortly before the model code of conduct for assembly elections came into force.
After the appointments, some videos of the retired army officer made rounds on social media, drawing flak from the members of Jat community and other castes.
They alleged that the statements were against certain castes and were biased.
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday said that he was “deeply hurt” due to Rathore’s statements.
He said the state government had recommended his appointment in view of his military background.
Gehlot said that any person serving in the army is expected to serve the country irrespective of caste, religion, class etc. and soldiers sacrifice their lives to protect the borders of the country, hence they are respected in the society.
“After the appointment of Colonel Kesari Singh, some of his statements have gone viral on social media, which are made against a particular caste and individual, which are condemnable, painful and unfortunate. I too am deeply hurt by his comments,” he said in a statement posted on X on Thursday.
Gehlot said that in view of incidents of paper leaks, the government tried to give place to officers from army background in institutions like the Rajasthan Public Service Commission (RPSC) and Rajasthan Subordinate Services Board (RSSB) so that the credibility of these institutions is maintained.
“Recently, the government had recommended the appointment of Major General Alok Raj as the chairman of RSSB and Colonel Kesari Singh as member of RPSC. Both of them neither applied nor any recommendation for them was received. They were appointed considering their 37 years and 20 years of military service respectively,” he said.
Maj Gen (Retd) Alok Raj was appointed as RSSB chairman in August.
On Monday, appointment orders of Kesari Singh Rathore, Ayub Khan and Kailash Chand Meena were issued by the state department of personnel.
The orders were issued shortly before the announcement of the dates of assembly elections in Rajasthan by the Election Commission of India.
The BJP had also questioned the timing of the appointments.
Jat leader and president of Rajasthan Jat Mahasabha Rajaram Meel had written a letter to the Governor and Congress leaders on Tuesday to cancel the appointment of Rathore in view of his “biased” statements.
He said that Rathore has been a controversial and biased person and has worked to spread hatred in society through his statements against certain castes.
Meel said a person with a clean image and non-biased approach should be appointed in RPSC in order to maintain the sanctity of the commission.
“Today, the chief minister has admitted that Kesari Singh’s statements were going to spread enmity seeing which he too is pained. I demand from the CM Gehlot that he should demand the resignation of Kesari Singh. On the grounds of morality, Kesari Singh should also resign,” he said, reacting to the CM’s statement.
Rathore is from the Rajput community.
Meel said, “We are not against any community, we are only against a person who makes statements that spread enmity and is suffering from the mentality of caste discrimination. If a capable person is appointed from the Rajput community who can take along all “36 Kaums” (communities), we will welcome him.” PTI SDA NB NB
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.