The ostensible reason for the witch hunt is that the chief secretary failed to attend a meeting held by Prime Minister Modi to review the situation in the wake of the Yaas cyclone, but it takes no rocket science to understand that he has been caught in the crossfire between the Modi government and the administration of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Bandhopadhyay could not attend because he was supposed to accompany the chief minister on a tour of the West Midnapore district to assess the cyclone damage.

The central recall of the 1987-batch IAS officer is supposed to be a snub to Mamata Banerjee, who paid Prime Minister Modi probably in the same coin by making him wait for half an hour, along with Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, and opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari, her bete noir, to whom she lost the all-important election. Mamata obviously knew Suvendu would be there and hence the tantrums. Although Modi government sources say the opposition leader was invited along with other opposition party leaders, of whom Congress’ Adhir Ranjan Choudhury could not attend as he was away in Delhi, Suvendu’s presence was clearly to provoke Didi.

This is where statesmanship matters and Modi presented a very poor account of himself by causing the first face to face meeting with Mamata Banerjee, after the ferociously fought election which the prime minister’s party lost by an embarrassingly large margin. A meeting in the backdrop of the ravaging second wave of Covid and the approach of a menacing cyclone should have been held in a more civilised manner, with Modi leading by example by behaving like a true statesman. But he behaved like a politician on the street rather than one occupying the most important position in the country. A false start triggers more fumbles and Mamata Banerjee’s behaviour was equally questionable.

Given that the chief secretary, originally set to retire on May 31, has been given a three-month extension by Mamata so as to ensure continuity in the measures to fight the pandemic, the Modi government should have at least considered this aspect before issuing such a midnight order. The failure to take this account reduces the Prime Minister’s impassioned pleas to the people about fighting Covid hollow slogans, as his critics have always complained.

But worse than that, it is a gross violation of the human rights of the senior bureaucrat, who has been caught in the crossfire, for no fault of his. It is also an illegal order as it forces a man on the verge of retirement to break the Covid protocol, without which it is impossible for him to comply with the arbitrary government order.

Central administrative service officers are increasingly finding themselves sandwiched in the fight between Centre and the states. Only in West Bengal, three senior IPS officers were asked to be released from the services of the state government in the same manner as the chief secretary is now sought to be shunted out. The senior IPS officials were branded by the Union Home Ministry as ‘extremely pro-Trinamool’ and recalled for their alleged failure to prevent the attack on the convoy of BJP president JP Nadda while on a tour of Bengal.

These cases cannot be considered innocent occurrences and can be seen as part of a bigger agenda by the Modi government to use senior administrative officials in its fight against the states and established norms of federalism. In June last year, the Centre revised the empanelment policy for IAS officers, making it mandatory to serve in central deputation for two years in the first 16 years of their career.

While greater efficiency and the need to have a professionally trained corps of officers with experience both at the Centre and the states were cited as the reasons for the change, it was widely feared that the Centre would use the new system to cause disruption in the working of the states, particularly when they are under opposition rule. The fears have been proven right. (IPA Service)