The spineless civil servants outnumbered: Ex-bureaucrats call out servility in Modi era

A group of former civil servants wrote a letter addressing a situation in which civil servants appeared to be servile towards the BJP government, while brazenly promoting Hindutva activities in disregard of secularism and the rule of law, shutting their eyes to attacks on minorities, particularly amid allegations against the Election Commission of India over the deletion of voters’ names, and urged them to show the spine to say no to the government, invoking a statement by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

The letter, signed by 98 former civil servants, including former Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa, former home secretary G.K. Pillai, former chief information commissioner Wajahat Habibullah and former Delhi lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung, recalled for their serving counterparts the words of India’s first Deputy Prime Minister, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

Addressing the Constituent Assembly in October 1949, Patel had warned: “A civil servant cannot afford to and must not take part in politics, nor must he involve himself in communal wrangles.”

Drafted by an informal association of retired civil servants called the Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG), the letter termed the Election Commission of India (ECI) the “most glaring example of wilful disregard of constitutional ethics” and called out its officers for presiding over the erosion of its once-independent character.

Aimed particularly at the allegations against the ECI over its Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and the dubious nature of the process, the letter claimed that the exercise had created a class of “stateless residents”, which not only damaged the reputation of the ECI but also the foundations of India’s electoral democracy.

The letter also came down on the other two Election Commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, whose alleged revelation about a lack of unanimity in decision-making and their dissent over the SIR process had become points of agitation, but whose participation in the September 26 ECI meeting, despite their reservations on key subjects, was described as their compliance with the “cover-up”.

It further notes that claims made in the ECI’s September 26 note were contradicted by the Supreme Court’s position on the proposed amended Form 6.

The group went beyond the ECI to highlight the servitude of other central agencies towards the Central government, accusing the Income Tax Department, Enforcement Directorate, CBI, Narcotics Control Bureau and the police of becoming complicit in the harassment of individuals and institutions perceived to be hostile to the government.

The group cited incidents of officials and officers openly engaging in Hindu religious activities in uniform in violation of the rules, and called the showering of flower petals on kanwar yatris by senior police and IAS officers, along with the alleged intimidation of Muslim shopkeepers, a “brazen disregard of secular conduct and law”, while criticising the failure to act against hate speech and calls for genocide.

They write that perpetrators of hate speech from the majority community are allowed a free run even when making open calls for genocide, adding that it is time for stronger personal accountability and penalties for administrative and police excesses by government servants.

The letter also condemns the handling of environmental governance, describing the clearance process for the Great Nicobar project as a “farce” and alleging that the Environment Ministry has abandoned its regulatory role in favour of facilitating big industry.

Above all, the former civil servants ask their successors to recover the professional courage once associated with the services. Quoting Patel’s 1949 Constituent Assembly speech, they argue that a civil servant “cannot afford to and must not take part in politics, nor must he involve himself in communal wrangles”.

“When there is a conflict between the orders given to you and the statutory provisions,” they write, officials must follow the law “in letter and spirit”, even when doing so brings personal inconvenience or risk. The CCG promises its support to those who choose constitutional duty over political obedience.