The increasing interest of bureaucrats in politics is not at all motivated by service.

Before the assembly and Lok Sabha elections of five states to be held next year, many administrative officers are resigning from their posts to enter politics. Why are these administrative officers finding politics so attractive in comparison to bureaucracy, why is the attraction towards politics increasing among these bureaucrats? Among these questions, the important question is that IAS officer V.K. What direction will the news of voluntary retirement by Pandian and acceptance of resignation of Deputy Collector Nisha Bangre in Madhya Pradesh and her joining political parties and contesting elections take democracy? Apart from these, many bureaucrats like Collector, Deputy Collector, IFS, Doctor, Professor, IPS officer etc. are ready to try their future in politics. Democracy and bureaucracy are definitely the two main pillars of democracy. The important responsibility of success of democracy and nation-building rests on the shoulders of both of them. If only passion for national interest is to be shown, then is this not possible in a bureaucrat? It seems that the life of both the legislature and the executive is full of many contradictions and inconsistencies. The deep contradiction is clearly reflected in all the policies, decisions, behavior and statements of these two. This is the reason why truth and possibilities are not found even after searching, their behavior has become double-minded. By adopting double standards, every policy, every decision of theirs is creating more problems than solutions. These decisions of Pandian and Nisha have raised many questions, which need to be considered seriously.

The race of bureaucrats to move towards politics is not service driven at all. It is this hunger to achieve more and more that will only corrupt politics like bureaucracy. It is well known that the country’s administrative institutions are facing a crisis of credibility and understanding. The allegation against him of working at the behest of political masters is not baseless. This is neither in the interest of the country nor of democracy. In such a situation, examples like Pandian and Nisha will further damage the credibility of the bureaucracy and the chances of keeping politics clean will also be blurred. Therefore, to truly strengthen the country with administrative reforms, it is more important that the administrative officers fulfill the responsibility of nation-building while holding their posts. Our Constitution gives freedom of opportunity to every citizen within the prescribed norms, and in this respect there is nothing wrong in officers entering politics, but these days the tendency among bureaucrats to become favored by politicians and get rewarded is deepening. The issue of political infiltration of progress-loving, ambitious and greedy officers like Pandian and Nisha will also inspire other bureaucrats to nexus with those in power. This will create strange confusion and instability in the administrative area. What is needed is that the legislature, executive and judiciary should live up to the expectations set by the Constitution and we can become an example for the world as an ideal democracy.

The excitement for Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections is on the rise. This time, if we look at the list of officers who are trying their luck in the electoral battle, Nisha Bandre Deputy Collector is at the top, retired IPS officer MP Varkade is likely to contest the elections from Congress. Varad Murthy Mishra has left the IAS job and formed a political party and has also announced to contest elections on all 230 assembly seats. V.K. Batham is a retired IAS officer, playing an important role in Congress, there are speculations about him also contesting the elections. B. Chandrashekhar, Kiran Ahirwar, Ajita Vajpayee Pandey, Hiralal Trivedi, Pannalal Solanki, Pawan Jain, Ghazi Ram Meena, Azad Singh Dabas etc. are the names of many officers who are now likely to actively enter politics and contest elections. The increasing fascination of officers with politics is nothing new. The dominance of these administrative officers in politics from states to the center has been increasing day by day. These administrative officers have sheepdogs in both their hands – first as bureaucrats and now as politicians.

Till the time we reached the golden age of independence, there were bureaucrats in various political parties who left high government positions and held high political positions. Natwar Singh, Mani Shankar Aiyar, Meira Kumar, Ajit Jogi, Yashwant Sinha etc. have been ministers in the past, while currently in the Narendra Modi government, Ashwini Vaishnav (IAS 1994-batch) is a part of the Union Cabinet and has portfolios of Railways, Communications, Electronics and There are three big departments like Information Technology. Who also served as Private Secretary to Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Similarly, Hardeep Singh Puri holds the Urban Development and Petroleum portfolios, while R.K. Singh is the Minister of Power and Renewable Energy and Arjun Ram Meghwal (IAS 1999-batch) is the Minister of State (MoS) for Law and Justice, Parliamentary Affairs and Culture. Meghwal is also the chairman of the manifesto committee of Rajasthan BJP. Whereas, Som Prakash (IAS 1988-batch) is the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry. Former civil servants are also now stepping into key BJP organizational roles that were earlier reserved for cadres. For example, K. as the President of Tamil Nadu BJP. The appointment of Annamalai (IPS 2011-batch) can be seen. Another example is former Raipur Collector O.P. Choudhary (IAS 2005-batch). He was appointed General Secretary of BJP in Chhattisgarh in 2022.

By the way, this is not the first time that people from the administrative sector have directly jumped into politics, since the time of independence, people from different sectors have been becoming a part of the government and politics and the country and society have also benefited from it. But they were experts in their respective fields and did not get the benefit of being close to any big politician or political party. Rather, his ability forced the governments to let him join the government and give the benefit of his talent and skills to the country. But in the last few decades, the alliance between rulers and bureaucrats has not only distorted politics but has also deepened the roots of corruption in governance. In such a situation, if people like Nisha and Pandian become active in politics, will there not be injustice to the local workers who have been engaged in public service for years? Are the preferences of bureaucrats in line with the basic spirit of democracy? Will this not give rise to a new kind of dissatisfaction and rebellion in politics?

Is Pandian and Nisha’s decision to enter politics inspired by public service or the result of greed and ambitions? If he was so interested in politics, why did he spend so many years in administration? Why didn’t he do something unique for the country while in administration? Even more expectations are made from bureaucrats than from politicians; if they wanted, they could have lived up to the public’s expectations. But he has been keeping the public’s aspirations aside and it is surprising that he did not even appear worried or ashamed. The expansion of the same game that is happening at the political peak is visible today around our administration also. What is even more surprising is that they are accusing others of deviating from principles, calling them wrong and the bureaucrats themselves, wearing the mask of awakening them, are pretending to be servants with folded hands.

-Lalit Garg

(The author is a senior journalist and columnist)