Bhopal: The participation of two civil servants in a function organised by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) earlier this month has triggered a massive row in Madhya Pradesh, with the opposition Congress demanding action against the “errant” officials.
The development comes less than six months before the state is due to hold assembly elections.
A viral photo from the RSS function (‘Samarpan Samaroh’) held in Satna on 11 June shows the two officials, district collector Anurag Verma and municipal commissioner Rajesh Shahi, not only attending the event but also holding their hands up to perform the ‘dhwaj pranaam‘ — the Hindutva organisation’s customary salute.
The salute is performed by folding one’s right arm, palm down, in front of one’s chest.
Vivek Tankha, a Congress Rajya Sabha MP, tweeted a photo of the event Sunday and said in an accompanying post in Hindi: “These images of two officials participating in an RSS event and doing dhwaj pranaam are district collector Anurag Verma and municipal commissioner Rajesh Shahi. With such relations, how can these officials conduct free and impartial elections?”
While Verma is an IAS officer, Shahi is from state civil services.
Tankha also tagged the Election Commission of India to demand that the two officials be pulled out of the election process, and urged the state’s chief secretary, Iqbal Singh Bains, to act against them.
मप्र के चीफ सेक्रेटरी से अपेक्षा है ऐसे अधिकारियों के विरुद्ध कार्यवाही करे। क्या CS ऐसा करेंगे। उनको रिटायरमेंट के पश्चात दूसरा एक्सटेंशन दिया गया है।मप्र की ८ करोड़ जनता अधिकारियों से निष्पक्षता की अपेक्षा करती है। जो अधिकारी राजनीति करेंगे उनके सितारे गर्दिश में ज़रूर जाएँगे।
— Vivek Tankha (@VTankha) June 18, 2023
On his part, Verma told ThePrint that he had accompanied the state’s advocate general, Prashant Singh, to the event.
“I do not feel that there was anything wrong as it was a public event with over 8,000 people, and being present there, we participated in the said customs,” he told ThePrint.
When contacted, Shahi said he and Verma had stood in the “same posture as others” because they were part of the event.
“This does not mean that we belong or promote any particular ideology,” he said. “Just two weeks ago we went to an event organised by the Nirankari community and there were prayers happening and so we also stood with folded hands to be part of that event. This does not mean that we are propagating their ideology. We are government servants and sometimes participate in cultural events along with the crowd.”
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‘Will chief secretary act?’
The officials, according to Tankha, had violated their service rules.
“The AG had gone in his capacity as a politician — a position which the Constitution allows AG to hold. But the service rules for a civil servant stipulate a different conduct,” he told ThePrint, adding that the Congress would compile a list of such “partisan bureaucrats” for necessary action to be taken “when there is a change of government in the state”.
In his Twitter post, Tankha also wondered if chief secretary Bains, a 1985-batch IAS officer who has been given two extensions since he was due to retire last November — the last one having come in May — would have the will to act against the two civil servants.
“The chief secretary of MP is expected to take action against such officers. But will CS do this? He has been given a second extension after retirement,” he wrote. “The eight crore people of Madhya Pradesh expect impartiality from officers and those that do politics will see their stars dim.”
ThePrint reached Bains for comment via telephone and text message. This report will be updated if and when he responds.
But a senior Madhya Pradesh government official who didn’t want to be named pointed to two circulars issued by the General Administration Department, both pertaining to events organised by the RSS.
General Administration is the nodal department for higher civil services.
According to the official, the first circular, issued in 2003, said that “any civil servant participating in any event of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) or any such organisation will be seen as violating the code of conduct under under section 5 (1) of MP Civil Service Act, 1965”.
“The letter further stated disciplinary action will be taken against civil servants participating in events of RSS and once the accusations against them are established, they can also be removed from the service,” the official said. “The letter also stated that if such events are taking place in government buildings or government premises, necessary steps should be taken to stop them.”
But a second circular issued in August 2006 said this restriction would not be applicable to events being held by the RSS.
Meanwhile, MP Congress communications in-charge K.K. Mishra said the party would register a complaint against the two officials with the central Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), under which they come.
This is an updated version of the report
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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