Mallikarjun Kharge
@kharge
An Appeal to all the Civil Servants and Officers
My dear esteemed members of bureaucracy, our civil servants & officers,
I am writing you in the capacity of the Leader of the Opposition (Rajya Sabha) and as President of the Indian National Congress. The elections for the 18th Lok Sabha have concluded and the counting of votes shall take place tomorrow, on June 4th, 2024.
I must congratulate the Election Commission of India, the Central Armed Forces, Police in various states, Civil Servants, District Collectors, Volunteers and each one of you who were involved in conducting this mammoth and historic task.
Our inspiration and India’s First Home Minister, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel famously called the civil servants as the “Steel frame of India.” The people of India are well aware that it is the Indian National Congress which established numerous institutions, laid their solid foundation, and devised mechanisms for their independence, on the basis of the Constitution of India.
Independence of the institutions is paramount, for every civil servant takes oath of the Constitution that they “will faithfully and conscientiously discharge their duties and will do right to all manner of people in accordance with the Constitution and the law, without fear or favour, affection or ill-will”. In this spirit we expect every bureaucrat and officer – from top to bottom of the hierarchy, to discharge their duties in the spirit of the Constitution, without any coercion, threat, pressure or intimidation either from the ruling party/coalition or from the opposition party/coalition.
It is important to underline the fact that the Congress party, through the Constitution prepared by our inspirational founding members such as Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Dr B R Ambedkar, Dr Rajendra Prasad, Maulana Azad, Sarojini Naidu and countless others, not only created a framework of strong governance, but also ensured affirmative action through representation of the marginalised in the bureaucracy and the civil society, in our autonomous institutions.
The last decade has witnessed a systemic pattern to assault, undermine and suppress our autonomous institutions by the ruling party. India’s Democratic ethos are being consequently damaged. There is a widespread tendency to turn India into a regimental dictatorship. We are increasingly seeing some institutions shedding their independence and brazenly following the diktats of the ruling party. Some have completely adopted their style of communication, their way of functioning, and in some cases even their political rhetoric. It is not their fault. With brute power, threat, coercive mechanisms and misuse of agencies, this tendency to bow to the powers that have become a way for their short-term survival. Even though, in this denigration, India’s Constitution and Democracy have become a casualty.
