Lethal words

"I wish not to be present here at the ceremony of presenting the memento. And there is a reason for that which I will disclose after two days. Thank you..''. Apparently there is no tone of authority or threat in these words. But, what drove Additional District Magistrate (ADM), Kannur, K Naveen Babu to suicide was the brief address that concluded with these words. With only seven months left to retire, Naveen Babu, who was moving from Kannur to his native place, was at the farewell function organized by his colleagues at the Kannur Collectorate conference hall last Tuesday under the leadership of the district collector where the District Panchayat President and member of CPM District Committee PP Divya made this speech. She was not invited to the event. However, she arrived there shortly after the meeting started with advance notice to the media. There she made a speech with an insinuation that Naveen Babu had committed some serious corruption and it would be revealed in two days. Although the speech was just about three minutes long, those words clothed in the arrogance and full of impropriety were enough to eliminate a person. Naveen Babu, an officer who must have bowed his head in disgrace in that gathering, eventually had to end his own life. The next day, those who waited for him at the railway station of his home town were greeted by the news of his death.

As soon as Naveen's death was known, naturally the 'farewell' meeting held the day before also started being discussed. Fierce protest was also raised against PP Divya. Although the Opposition parties, and even some from the ruling side came out in support of Naveen - who had a leftist background - the CPM leadership was largely in an effort to defend Divya which got unstinted support from the Left cyber camp too. Meanwhile, the allegation that Naveen took a bribe in the matter related to the approval of a petrol pump mentioned by Divya in the farewell meeting also came up. With that, strange arguments were heard from some quarters that Divya was playing the role of a whistleblower and there need not be any propriety in exposing corruption.

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But all these arguments were drowned in fierce protests. The reason is simple: all those who know the track record of Naveen as an officer dismiss the allegations against him. On the other hand, some doubts were also raised about the veracity of corruption allegations leveled by Divya. IAS officers Divya S. Iyer and PB Nooh et al recall the exemplary work done by Naveen during the flood of 2018 and other occasions. They all vouch that the officer's official career was corruption-free and exemplary. The same is the opinion of even the party leaders who were close to him. As for the allegations levelled by Divya, it transpired that there was some personal stake in it.

The CPM and the government also had to face the question of whether it is appropriate for a representative of the people to rally the media and make cheap displays of populism instead of resorting to the proper path of law by reporting corruption accurately if she had the evidence. In this situation, the party and the government came forward to take some steps against Divya. Now she stands implicated in the case registered for unnatural death. The Human Rights Commission has also registered a case in the matter. Perhaps, Divya may also be kicked out of the post of district panchayat president. But the current events are not something that can be wound up by the measures mentioned above. One can see certain dimensions in these incidents beyond that of the arrogance of a representative of the people exercised on the strength of power. The allegation against Naveen is that he did not first issue a no-objection letter to a petrol pump and later granted it after taking a bribe.

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Suspicious evidence has already surfaced that the bribe-taking incident is a fabrication. Along with that, the enquiry about who that entrepreneur was may lead to nowhere but the proxies of political parties. In other words, indications also have surfaced that it was her own interests that prompted Divya to make such an allegation so emotionally. Or, Divya, who is now accused, is part of the ruling elite who wield the sword even if officials act legally against their wishes and political goals. It is true that there are worms in our bureaucracy. At the same time, there are also those who act as role models. And to the question as to who the bureaucracy should align with, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, whom Divya had quoted in her speech, had given a definite answer in his first Cabinet meeting. He reminded the officers that behind every file is a life. This reminder was also a policy statement. Now it is an officer who served the public in accordance with that people-friendly policy declaration whose life has been lost. Therefore, it would not be appropriate at all to confine this incident to a procedural inquiry and to conclude it with some nominal steps. Instead, the government should be prepared for a comprehensive investigation that will shed light on the political conspiracies of this incident as well.