Governments and political parties in power often misuse institutions and agencies that are expected to be independent and non-political or non-partisan in a democracy. One among those much-misused institutions is bureaucracy. The BJP government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has outsmarted all other previous governments in the game of misusing institutions and agencies. 

The latest episode is the instructions issued by the Department of Personnel and other Ministries to nominate senior officers as “District Rath Praharis” under their purview to “showcase/celebrate achievements of the NDA government during the last nine years through ‘Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra’ from 20th November 2023 to 25th January 2024.” The circular has asked to “nominate officers of the rank of joint secretaries/director/deputy secretary till the gram panchayat level in all the 765 districts of the country to deploy them as “district rath prabharis (special officers).” 

When dates of elections to five state assemblies are declared and the next Lok Sabha election is going to take place within seven to eight months, the order of the government will be seen as a misuse of bureaucracy that is expected to be impartial. It appears to be an attempt to make use of officials as propagandists of the ruling party in the context of elections to five State assemblies. It can be easily interpreted as politicization of civil servants or bureaucracy.  

Former secretary to the government of India E.A.S Sarma has written to the Election Commission of India, asking the Commission to act so that no particular political party gets an advantage over others. He also reminded the EC, “If the Commission fails to discharge its responsibilities envisaged under Article 324 and the relevant election laws, it will undoubtedly amount to causing irreparable damage to the democratic values that lie at the core of the Constitution.”

Sarma has given certain reasons for raising his objection. Firstly, Public servants taking part in any activity that is likely to influence the voters in an election violates the Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules. Secondly, Under Section 171C of the IPC, “whoever voluntarily interferes or attempts to interfere with the free exercise of any electoral right commits the offence of undue influence at an election”. Thirdly, some central ministers are reported to be contesting the Assembly elections. Deploying Central government officers in an activity amounts to canvassing for the ruling political parties in elections they are contesting.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge wrote to the Prime Minister urging him to withdraw the circular. He accused the government of making use of officers for “marketing activity” of the incumbent government. He further wrote, “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.”

In a way, politicization of bureaucracy started when the government employees were allowed to join Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in the BJP-ruled states. Although RSS claims to be a cultural organization, thousands of its cadres work for the BJP during elections. Moreover, RSS top leadership has a lot of control over the BJP and the party-led governments, as it deputes its representatives to the BJP. The BJP president participates in the coordination meeting of the Sangh Parivar organizations. A large number of MPs, MLAs and ministers are trained in the ideology of RSS, as they are members of RSS. Naturally, the political leadership with the support of the civil servants can unduly influence elections in favour of a political party, affecting free and fair polls which are essential for the survival of democracy.  

BJP is not an ordinary political party because its ideology of Hindutva is opposed to the pluralistic or secular democracy envisaged in the Indian Constitution. As Shashi Tharoor has described in his book, "Why I am a Hindu", “Hindutva rests on the atavistic belief that India has been the land of Hindus since ancient times and that their identity and its identity are intertwined. Non-Hindus can be tolerated depending on their loyalty to the land, but cannot be treated as equal to Hindus unless they acknowledge the superiority of Hindus in India and adopt Hindu traditions and culture. Non-Hindus must acknowledge their Hindu parentage, or better still, convert to Hinduism in a return to their true cultural roots”.

Secondly, RSS, the ideological fountainhead of the BJP, did not accept the Indian Constitution when it was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on November 26, 1949. Three days after the Constituent Assembly passed the Constitution, the RSS mouth piece Organizer on November 30, 1949, in an editorial, rejected it and demanded the archaic Manu Smriti, as the Constitution. It read: “But in our Constitution, there is no mention of the unique constitutional development in ancient Bharat. Manu’s Laws were written long before Lycurgus of Sparta or Solon of Persia. To this day, his laws as enunciated in the Manu Smriti excite the admiration of the world and elicit spontaneous obedience and conformity. But to our constitutional pundits that means nothing”.

The functioning of the BJP government at the Centre from 2014 vindicates flouting the liberal democratic values enshrined in the Indian Constitution. The passing of discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Act is an example for violating the core constitutional value of EQUALITY. The constitutional validity of the CAA is challenged in the Supreme Court and the court is yet to start hearing the case. Against this backdrop, the move of the Union government to make use of civil servants as propagandists of the achievements of the Modi government during the last nine years is not only highly suspicious but also dangerous.

Survival and robustness of democracy depends to a great extent on the independence of Judiciary and the media. In the context of India, the autonomy of some other institutions also contributes significantly to the survival of democracy. They are Election Commission of India, the Central Information Commission, the Central Bureau of Investigation, the National Investigation Agency, the Central Vigilance Commission, Enforcement Directorate (ED) etc. They are all headed by civil servants. If they are politicized, it will do great damage not only to democracy but also to the people of India.  

One of the allegations against the BJP government at the Centre is misuse of investigation agencies like CBI, ED, NIA, Income Tax Department etc. to target opposition party leaders and all those who are critical of the government. 95% of political leaders investigated by ED and CBI are opposition leaders, alleged 14 political parties that approached the Supreme Court against the indiscriminate use of central agencies.

The opposition’s petition claimed that central agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) have singled out opposition leaders in different cases, even as tainted BJP leaders have got off scot-free. The petition also said that once some of the leaders who were under scanner joined the BJP, cases against them were dropped or buried by the central agencies. One of the latest examples is Ajit Pawar and the team of NCP who split the party and joined hands with the Shiv Sena (Shinde)-BJP government in Maharashtra. Before joining the government, he and other four prominent leaders were under the scanner of ED for money laundering cases. In fact, the ED had filed chargesheet against Ajit Pawar-linked sugar factories for fraud. But nothing is heard about investigation on the money laundering cases against Ajit Pawar and others after they switched their loyalties.  

Brainwashing and domestication of bureaucracy are among the means adopted by the authoritarian and totalitarian governments. The solution to this danger is questioning and protesting by the people, especially political parties and the media. In the case of India, nothing much can be expected from the mainstream media, as they have become propaganda machines of the government and the ruling party. The alternative media could be the main source for questioning and creating awareness among the people.

Many young people in India aspire to join civil service in order to serve the nation. They are to be educated that they are accountable to the political executive, the people and the Constitution of India. While they work under the direction of the government, they are not bound to obey the orders that violate the Constitution of India. The remedy to politicization of bureaucracy is people becoming politically aware of their rights and duties and training bureaucrats to be committed to people. Another term for a bureaucrat is public servant which literally means servant of the public/people.