Mallikarjun Kharge emphasised that it was important to keep the armed forces out of politics.
Less than two hours after Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge accused the BJP government at the Centre of "politicising" the bureaucracy and the armed forces by asking them to "celebrate and showcase" the achievements of the past nine years, the BJP has hit back and said the move was aimed at ensuring all beneficiaries of government schemes were reached. It also accused the Congress of wanting to keep the poor in poverty.
In a letter to the Prime Minister posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday, Mr Kharge alleged that a government order dated October 18 directed that senior officers, including those holding ranks as high as joint secretary and director, be deployed as "Rath Prabharis" to all 765 districts of India to "showcase achievements of the last nine years of Government of India."
Pointing out that it was no coincidence that the nine years corresponded to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's tenure, he said, "It is a clear violation of the Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, 1964, which directs that no government servant shall take part in any political activity. While it is acceptable for government officers to disseminate information, to make them 'celebrate' and 'showcase' achievements blatantly turns them into political workers of the ruling party."
Referring to an order passed by the Ministry of Defence on October 9, the Congress president claimed it directed soldiers on annual leave to spend time promoting government schemes, making them "soldier-ambassadors."
"The Army Training Command, which should be focused on preparing our jawans to defend the nation, is busy preparing scripts and training manuals on how to promote government schemes. It is of utmost importance in a democracy that the Armed Forces are kept out of politics. The loyalty of every jawan is to the nation and to the Constitution. To force our soldiers to become marketing agents of government schemes is a dangerous step towards politicisation of the Armed Forces," Mr Kharge wrote.
Mr Kharge said that the jawans deserved the freedom to spend time with their families during their annual leave and restore energy for continued service, adding that "their leave must not be hijacked for political purposes".
In his message while sharing the letter, the Congress president said, "For the Modi Govt, all agencies, institutions, arms, wings, and departments of the government are now officially 'Pracharaks' (propagators)! In view of protecting our democracy and our Constitution, it is imperative that the orders which would lead to the politicising of Bureaucracy and our Armed Forces must be withdrawn immediately."
'Saturation Of Schemes'
Rubbishing all of Mr Kharge's claims, BJP president JP Nadda said the objective of the orders was to ensure that public servants reach the grassroots and ensure "saturation" of government schemes. He also took a dig at the party and said that public service delivery may be an "alien concept" for it.
"It may be an alien concept to the Congress Party, but public service delivery is the duty of a Government. If the Modi Govt wants to ensure saturation of all schemes and ensure all beneficiaries are reached, nobody who has the interest of the poor in his mind can have a problem. But Congress only has an interest in keeping the poor in poverty and hence their opposition to the saturation drive," Mr Nadda posted on X.
The BJP president said it baffled him that the Congress Party had an issue with public servants reaching the grassroots to ensure saturation of schemes and said that doing so was the basic tenet of governance.
Mr Nadda also recalled Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 2019 allegation that the Gandhi family had used INS Viraat as its "personal taxi" to take a dig at the Congress.
PM Modi had claimed that Rajiv Gandhi and his family had used the Navy's INS Viraat to go on a vacation. The former Commanding Officer of INS Viraat had denied the allegations.
"Regarding opposition to a 'Rath' it is a fit use of public resources unlike using warships as personal yachts," Mr Nadda said.