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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Sanju Samson ton guides India to 61-run win over South Africa
Durban, Nov 8: Sanju Samson scored a scintillating century as India inflicted a 61-run defeat on South Africa in the first T20I here on Friday.
Invited to bat, Samson blazed away to 107 off 50 balls, hitting as many as 10 sixes and seven fours to help India post 202 for 8.
The spin duo of Varun Chakaravarthy (3/25) and Ravi Bishnoi (3/28) then shared six wickets between them to bowl out South Africa for 141 in 17.5 overs.
Earlier, Samson became the first Indian to score back-to-back centuries in T20Is.
The opener notched his second T20I hundred off just 47 balls. His first had come in India's last outing against Bangladesh last month.
However, South Africa clawed their way back into the game as they stemmed the flow of runs by picking wickets in the last five overs.
Pacer Gerald Coetzee who claimed three wickets was the pick of the bowlers for the hosts.
Brief Scores:
India: 202 for 8 in 20 overs (Sanju Samson 107, Tilak Verma 33; Gerald Coetzee 3/37)
South Africa: 141 all out in 17.5 overs (Heinrich Klaasen 25; Varun Chakaravarthy 3/25, Ravi Bishnoi 3/28)
