New Delhi: The Constitutional Conduct Group – of former civil servants – have expressed deep concern with the Union government’s decision to lift the ban on civil servants joining or participating in the activities of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ideological fount of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
The group notes its disquiet with the fact that those who are tasked with defending secular democracy and minority rights can now openly declare their allegiance to an “organisation that is ideologically opposed to both of these.”
The signatories – 115 in number – occupied prominent posts in government and sought to highlight the import of this order on the civil services during communal or caste mass violence, times when the role of the district magistrate and the police leadership is decisive. At such points, public officials with bias could lead to fatal violence, they note.
The full statement and list of signatories are below.
§
We, former civil servants and members of the Constitutional Conduct Group, write to express our profound concern about the implications for secular democracy of the recent order of the union government to lift the decades old ban on civil servants becoming members of or participating in the activities of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
The paramount duty of civil administrators and the police is to defend and uphold the Constitution. This includes, centrally, the protection of the Constitutional rights – including of life, liberty and worship – of religious and caste minorities. For a fair discharge of these duties, civil servants must, at all times, demonstrate their humanism, impartiality and adherence to the values enshrined in the Constitution of India.
Recognising that caste, religion and gender continue to be critical fractures in Indian society, we feel a deep disquiet about this government order that allows government servants, who are tasked with defending secular democracy and minority rights, to openly declare their allegiance to an organisation that is ideologically opposed to both of these.
The import of this government directive is that from now on, a district magistrate, a police officer, a secretary to government, a professor, a teacher or a government doctor, can be openly a member of or participate in the activities of an organisation which rejects the pluralist, secular core of the Indian Constitution. We also note with regret the recent statements of High Court judges on the cusp of retirement of their ideological affinity with the RSS as well as the unequivocal judgment of the Madhya Pradesh High Court upholding the lifting of the ban.
The official defence of this decision rests on the claim that the RSS is a cultural and not a political organisation. This is patently not true. The goal of a Hindu Rashtra lies at the core of the ideology of the RSS, as articulated by its founders and leaders since its formation 99 years ago. This goal of a theocratic state in which people of some religious identities have lesser rights is in direct opposition to the principles and pledges of the Indian Constitution, which guarantee equal citizenship rights and freedoms to people of every faith and identity. This renders the government order that permits public officials to be members of or to associate with activities of the RSS a violation of the Constitution itself.
The close links of the RSS with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are also well known. Literally millions of RSS members openly campaign for the BJP in every state and national election. How then can the integrity of the electoral process be assured when Chief Election Commissioners, Returning Officers and all others tasked with organising a fair election can be members of an organisation which is strongly aligned to one particular political party?
Members of organisations with ideological affinities to the RSS have, in recent years, made speeches stoking hatred and sometimes even calling for genocide and ethnic cleansing. At least six judicial commissions of inquiry into major episodes of communal violence – the Jaganmohan Reddy report on the Ahmedabad riots of 1969; the D.P. Madon report on the Bhiwandi riots in 1970; the Vithayathil report on the Tellicherry riots in 1971; the Jitendra Narain report on the Jamshedpur riots in 1979; the P. Venugopal report on the Kanyakumari riots of 1982; and the report on the Bhagalpur riots in 1989 – have explicitly indicted organisations and parties having strong affinities with the ideology of the RSS for their role in these major communal flare-ups that resulted in extensive loss of life and property of Muslim and other citizens.
As former civil servants, we focus specifically on the import of this order on the civil services during communal or caste mass violence. In such times, the role of the district magistrate and the police leadership is decisive. If these public officers are free from religious and caste prejudices, if they are courageous, compassionate and fair, they can douse, in a matter of hours, the most fearsome fires of communal and caste savagery. But instead, if they buckle under illegal orders from their political superiors or, worse still, if they, too, are tainted by communal or caste bias, they would bear direct responsibility for the ensuing violence entailing the loss of innocent lives and livelihoods.
Civil servants are servants first of the Constitution; and only after this, of the elected government under which they serve. If Constitutional pledges or the rights of the most disadvantaged citizen are imperilled by orders of the elected government, it is their duty to resist such unconstitutional orders.
India’s first home minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel likened the civil services to the “steel frame” of our newly independent nation. In times when some politicians and religious leaders might mobilise people with calls to religion, caste and region, his hope was that a grateful people would rely upon the civil services to act as the steel frame to hold the country together and protect its most vulnerable people. The order of his Ministry banning the RSS in 1948 refers to “the forces of hate and violence” that must be rooted out.
Hence, we urge the immediate withdrawal of this egregious order, which, if and when implemented, would engender the collapse of Sardar Patel’s steel frame, render religious and caste minorities even more vulnerable in times of communal and caste violence, and cause enormous detriment to the soul of the Constitution.
Satyameva Jayate.
Constitutional Conduct Group
| Anand Arni | RAS (Retd.) | Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI |
| Aruna Bagchee | IAS (Retd.) | Former Joint Secretary, Ministry of Mines, GoI |
| Sandeep Bagchee | IAS (Retd.) | Former Principal Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra |
| G. Balachandhran | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal |
| Vappala Balachandran | IPS (Retd.) | Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI |
| Gopalan Balagopal | IAS (Retd.) | Former Special Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal |
| Sushant Baliga | Engineering Services (Retd.) | Former Additional Director General, Central PWD, GoI |
| Rana Banerji | RAS (Retd.) | Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI |
| Sharad Behar | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh |
| Aurobindo Behera | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Odisha |
| Madhu Bhaduri | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Portugal |
| Nutan Guha Biswas | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, Police Complaints Authority, Govt. of NCT of Delhi |
| Ravi Budhiraja | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairman, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, GoI |
| Sundar Burra | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra |
| R. Chandramohan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Principal Secretary, Transport and Urban Development, Govt. of NCT of Delhi |
| Rachel Chatterjee | IAS (Retd.) | Former Special Chief Secretary, Agriculture, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh |
| Kalyani Chaudhuri | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal |
| Purnima Chauhan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Administrative Reforms, Youth Services & Sports and Fisheries, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh |
| Gurjit Singh Cheema | IAS (Retd.) | Former Financial Commissioner (Revenue), Govt. of Punjab |
| F.T.R. Colaso | IPS (Retd.) | Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Karnataka & former Director General of Police, Govt. of Jammu & Kashmir |
| Anna Dani | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra |
| Vibha Puri Das | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, GoI |
| P.R. Dasgupta | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairman, Food Corporation of India, GoI |
| Pradeep K. Deb | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Deptt. Of Sports, GoI |
| Nitin Desai | Former Chief Economic Adviser, Ministry of Finance, GoI | |
| M.G. Devasahayam | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Govt. of Haryana |
| Renu Sahni Dhar | IAS (Retd.) | Former Principal Adviser to Chief Minister, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh |
| Kiran Dhingra | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, GoI |
| Sushil Dubey | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Sweden |
| A.S. Dulat | IPS (Retd.) | Former OSD on Kashmir, Prime Minister’s Office, GoI |
| K.P. Fabian | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Italy |
| Prabhu Ghate | IAS (Retd.) | Former Addl. Director General, Department of Tourism, GoI |
| Arif Ghauri | IRS (Retd.) | Former Governance Adviser, DFID, Govt. of the United Kingdom (on deputation) |
| Suresh K. Goel | IFS (Retd.) | Former Director General, Indian Council of Cultural Relations, GoI |
| S.K. Guha | IAS (Retd.) | Former Joint Secretary, Department of Women & Child Development, GoI |
| H.S. Gujral | IFoS (Retd.) | Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Govt. of Punjab |
| Meena Gupta | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forests, GoI |
| Ravi Vira Gupta | IAS (Retd.) | Former Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India |
| Deepa Hari | IRS (Resigned) | |
| Sajjad Hassan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Govt. of Manipur |
| Kamal Jaswal | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Department of Information Technology, GoI |
| Naini Jeyaseelan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Inter-State Council, GoI |
| Sanjay Kaul | IAS (Retd.) | Former Principal Secretary, Govt. of Karnataka |
| Gita Kripalani | IRS (Retd.) | Former Member, Settlement Commission, GoI |
| Ish Kumar | IPS (Retd.) | Former DGP (Vigilance & Enforcement), Govt. of Telangana and former Special Rapporteur, National Human Rights Commission |
| Sudhir Kumar | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, Central Administrative Tribunal |
| Subodh Lal | IPoS (Resigned) | Former Deputy Director General, Ministry of Communications, GoI |
| Sandip Madan | IAS (Resigned) | Former Secretary, Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission |
| Dinesh Malhotra | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh |
| P.M.S. Malik | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Myanmar & Special Secretary, MEA, GoI |
| Harsh Mander | IAS (Retd.) | Govt. of Madhya Pradesh |
| Amitabh Mathur | IPS (Retd.) | Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI |
| Lalit Mathur | IAS (Retd.) | Former Director General, National Institute of Rural Development, GoI |
| L.L. Mehrotra | IFS (Retd.) | Former Special Envoy to the Prime Minister and former Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, GoI |
| Aditi Mehta | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Rajasthan |
| Shivshankar Menon | IFS (Retd.) | Former Foreign Secretary and Former National Security Adviser |
| Malay Mishra | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Hungary |
| Satya Narayan Mohanty | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary General, National Human Rights Commission |
| Sudhansu Mohanty | IDAS (Retd.) | Former Financial Adviser (Defence Services), Ministry of Defence, GoI |
| Anup Mukerji | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Bihar |
| Deb Mukharji | IFS (Retd.) | Former High Commissioner to Bangladesh and former Ambassador to Nepal |
| Jayashree Mukherjee | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra |
| Shiv Shankar Mukherjee | IFS (Retd.) | Former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom |
| Gautam Mukhopadhaya | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Myanmar |
| Nagalsamy | IA&AS (Retd.) | Former Principal Accountant General, Tamil Nadu & Kerala |
| Sobha Nambisan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Principal Secretary (Planning), Govt. of Karnataka |
| Ramesh Narayanaswami | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of NCT of Delhi |
| Surendra Nath | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, Finance Commission, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh |
| P. Joy Oommen | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Chhattisgarh |
| Amitabha Pande | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Inter-State Council, GoI |
| Maxwell Pereira | IPS (Retd.) | Former Joint Commissioner of Police, Delhi |
| Alok Perti | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Coal, GoI |
| G.K. Pillai | IAS (Retd.) | Former Home Secretary, GoI |
| Rajesh Prasad | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to the Netherlands |
| R.M. Premkumar | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra |
| Rajdeep Puri | IRS (Resigned) | Former Joint Commissioner of Income Tax, GoI |
| N.K. Raghupathy | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairman, Staff Selection Commission, GoI |
| V.P. Raja | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairman, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission |
| V. Ramani | IAS (Retd.) | Former Director General, YASHADA, Govt. of Maharashtra |
| P.V. Ramesh | IAS (Retd.) | Former Addl. Chief Secretary to the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh |
| M. Rameshkumar | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal |
| K. Sujatha Rao | IAS (Retd.) | Former Health Secretary, GoI |
| M.Y. Rao | IAS (Retd.) | |
| Satwant Reddy | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Chemicals and Petrochemicals, GoI |
| Vijaya Latha Reddy | IFS (Retd.) | Former Deputy National Security Adviser, GoI |
| Julio Ribeiro | IPS (Retd.) | Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Punjab |
| Aruna Roy | IAS (Resigned) | |
| Manabendra N. Roy | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal |
| A.K. Samanta | IPS (Retd.) | Former Director General of Police (Intelligence), Govt. of West Bengal |
| Deepak Sanan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Principal Adviser (AR) to Chief Minister, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh |
| G.V. Venugopala Sarma | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Odisha |
| S. Satyabhama | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairperson, National Seeds Corporation, GoI |
| N.C. Saxena | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Planning Commission, GoI |
| A. Selvaraj | IRS (Retd.) | Former Chief Commissioner, Income Tax, Chennai, GoI |
| Ardhendu Sen | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal |
| Abhijit Sengupta | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Culture, GoI |
| Aftab Seth | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Japan |
| Ashok Kumar Sharma | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Finland and Estonia |
| Pravesh Sharma | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh |
| Raju Sharma | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh |
| Rashmi Shukla Sharma | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh |
| Avay Shukla | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary (Forests & Technical Education), Govt. of Himachal Pradesh |
| K.S. Sidhu | IAS (Retd.) | Former Principal Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra |
| Ajai Kumar Singh | IPS (Retd.) | Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Karnataka |
| Mukteshwar Singh | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission |
| Satyavir Singh | IRS (Retd.) | Former Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, GoI |
| Sujatha Singh | IFS (Retd.) | Former Foreign Secretary, GoI |
| Tara Ajai Singh | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Karnataka |
| A.K. Srivastava | IAS (Retd.) | Former Administrative Member, Madhya Pradesh Administrative Tribunal |
| Prakriti Srivastava | IFoS (Retd.) | Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests & Special Officer, Rebuild Kerala Development Programme, Govt. of Kerala |
| Parveen Talha | IRS (Retd.) | Former Member, Union Public Service Commission |
| Anup Thakur | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission |
| P.S.S. Thomas | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary General, National Human Rights Commission |
| Geetha Thoopal | IRAS (Retd.) | Former General Manager, Metro Railway, Kolkata |
| Ashok Vajpeyi | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairman, Lalit Kala Akademi |