The character of Samajwadi Party ? It is not out of character for the SP to give an extraneous communal or narrow political angle to issues. The SP has, since its inception, shown itself to be a party that uses populist and identarian rhetoric to garner support and when in power has shown few qualms about securing short-term benefits, relying if need be on extra-legal means. The present case seems to be one of many which have been reported in recent times from UP, where the SP government has come down heavily on administrative officers who have refused to follow extra-legal orders of its supporters. Nagpal has received a large measure of support from the public as also from civil service officers, many of whom have come out openly in her defence. The central government, sensing political capital, has tried to intervene on her behalf. But the centre can hardly claim the moral high ground as it has been the Congress which, historically, has been most complicit in breaching the neutrality of the civil services and encouraging its politicisation. While it defends Nagpal in UP, its government in Haryana hounds Ashok Khemka on the other bank of the Yamuna. There has, perhaps, been no government which has been free from this taint, some have just been worse than the others.
Posted on: Tue, 20 Aug 2013 03:28:51 +0000
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