'Frenzy of Hate-Filled Destruction': 108 Ex-Bureaucrats Write to PM Modi

"Your silence, in the face of this enormous societal threat, is deafening," the letter from the civil servants says.

Over a hundred former bureaucrats wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, 26 April, condemning his silence on the recent spate of communal incidents in the country, and appealed to him to "call for an end to the politics of hate that governments under [his] party’s control are so assiduously practising".

"We are witnessing a frenzy of hate filled destruction in the country where at the sacrificial altar are not just Muslims and members of the other minority communities but the Constitution itself," the letter states, later adding, "Your silence, in the face of this enormous societal threat, is deafening."

"While we are not aware if the current spurt in communal frenzy is coordinated and directed by the political leadership, it is evident that the administration at the state and local levels provides a facilitating environment for mischievous lumpen groups to operate without fear. Such facilitation and support is not limited to that offered by the local police and other administrative officials; it appears to have the tacit approval of the highest political levels in the state and central governments."

The Letter

Penned by 108 signatories who have served as IAS, IPS, or IFS officers, the letter notes, "As former civil servants, it is not normally our wont to express ourselves in such extreme terms, but the relentless pace at which the constitutional edifice created by our founding fathers is being destroyed compels us to speak out and express our anger and anguish."

Former Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Najeeb Jung, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Principal Secretary TKA Nair, and former National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon are among the signatories of the letter.

'Legal, Constitutional Framework Being Perverted'

Stating that the recent spate of communal incidents is a 'master design' to lay the ground of a 'Hindu Rashtra', the group civil servants, who have organised themselves into a 'Constitutional Conduct Group,' wrote:

"What distinguishes the incidents that are taking place now from earlier communal conflagrations is... the constitutional and legal framework designed to prevent such a development from taking place is itself being twisted and perverted to make it an instrument of majoritarian tyranny. No wonder then that the bulldozer has now become the new metaphor for the exercise of political and administrative power, literally and figuratively."

The mention of the word 'bulldozer' can be understood as an allusion to the recent anti-encroachment drives in Delhi, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh, where communal clashes had broken out in April.

The demolition drives were widely condemned as being politically-motivated and targeting the minority Muslim community.

Appealing to PM Modi to adhere to his party's poll promise of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, the letter said, "It is our fond hope that in this year of ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’, rising above partisan considerations, you will call for an end to the politics of hate that governments under your party’s control are so assiduously practising."