Gurgaon:
Haryana IAS officer Ashok Khemka has been transferred out of the land registration department three days after he started an inquiry into land deals by Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra. There has been an eruption of outrage over this. But the IAS officer himself, speaking to NDTV, sounds very stoic about it. There's a reason behind it. This is the 43rd time Mr Khemka has been moved out from office in his 21-year-long career as a Haryana cadre IAS officer.
Of these, the present Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who has been chief minister since 2005, has moved him around at least 18 times. It was this last transfer that put Mr Khemka in the headlines. The opposition Indian National Lok Dal, the party of Mr Hooda's predecessor Om Prakash Chautala, quickly jumped down the government's throat, saying Mr Khemka was transferred only because he was making "revelations".
"He is our brave officer. This is not the first time that he has brought out scams in the government. Only when he make such revelations he's been transferred by the government," Mr Chautala said. Another opposition leader, Kuldip Bishnoi of the Haryana Janhit Congress too sympathised with the "victimisation" of Mr Khemka. But both had conveniently forgot their own history with Mr Khemka.
NDTV has calculated that in the four-and-a-half odd years between 1991 and 2005 that Mr Chautala was chief minister, the same officer was moved no less than 12 times.
Mr Bishnoi's father Bhajan Lal, when he was CM between 1993 and 1995, shunted Mr Khemka around eight times. In between, the government of Bansi Lal moved him six times between 1996 and 1999.
For the IAS officer, the constant shunting is "demoralising and dehumanising", as he told NDTV, but many are pointing out that it is also the sign that honesty still exists in the system.