Over 100 ex-bureaucrats request PM to call for end to 'politics of hate'
New Delhi, Apr 26: Over 100 former civil servants have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a hope that he will call for an end to what they termed as "politics of hate" allegedly practised "assiduously" by governments under BJP's control.
In an open letter, they said "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".
Former Lt Governor of Delhi Najeeb Jung, former National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon, ex-foreign secretary Sujatha Singh, former home secretary G K Pillai and former prime minister Manmohan Singh's principal secretary T K A Nair are among the 108 signatories to the letter.
As former civil servants, it is not normally our want 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, the letter said.
The escalation of hate violence against the minority communities, particularly Muslims, in the last few years and months across several states - Assam, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, all states in which the BJP is in power, barring Delhi (where the union government controls the police) - has acquired a frightening new dimension, it said.
The former bureaucrats said they believe that the threat is unprecedented and at stake is not just constitutional morality and conduct; it is that the unique syncretic social fabric, "which is our greatest civilizational inheritance and which our Constitution is so meticulously designed to conserve, is likely to be torn apart".
"Your silence, in the face of this enormous societal threat, is deafening," the letter said.
"We appeal to your conscience, taking heart from your promise of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas'," it 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," said the letter.
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Assam to lift all cases against Koch Rajbongshis in Foreigners' Tribunals: CM Himanta Biswa Sarma
Guwahati, Apr 4 (PTI): The Assam cabinet has decided to lift all cases pending against people from the Koch Rajbongshi community in the Foreigners' Tribunals, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Friday.
They will also no longer carry the tag of 'D' or doubtful voters, he said.
''There are 28,000 cases pending in different Foreigners' Tribunals in the state against people of the community. The cabinet has taken a historic decision of lifting the cases with immediate effect,'' Sarma said at a press conference here after the cabinet meeting.
The government believes that the Koch Rajbongshis are an indigenous community of the state and they are an inextricable part of ''our social and cultural fabric'', he asserted.
The people of this community are poor and have suffered a lot over the years, he said.
''They will no longer carry the tag of foreigners or ‘D’ voters,'' the CM said.
Foreigners Tribunals are quasi-judicial bodies, particularly in Assam, established to determine if a person residing in India is a "foreigner" as defined by the Foreigners Act of 1946, based on the Foreigners (Tribunals) Order of 1964.
These tribunals are designed to address matters related to citizenship and the presence of “foreigners” in India, specifically focusing on cases where someone is suspected of being an illegal immigrant.
There are 100 Foreigners’ Tribunals across Assam.
The Koch Rajbongshis have a sizeable presence in Assam, West Bengal, Meghalaya, and parts of Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan, and they demand Scheduled Tribe status.
