Babu circles in Chandigarh are abuzz with talk about the sudden transfer of Union Territory adviser Vijay Kumar Dev, without letting him complete his three-year tenure. The babu’s transfer has upset not just bureaucrats but also the Opposition parties, including the Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party, who blame the Modi sarkar for “politicising the bureaucracy”. The government, however, claims that Mr Dev’s transfer was a purely “administrative decision”.
Mr Dev has been replaced by Parimal Rai, a 1985-batch IAS officer, who was temporarily under a cloud for his alleged role in the 2010 Commonwealth Games scam. However, he avoided prosecution because of absence of “sufficient” evidence against him. The clean chit came last year.
The post of adviser to the UT administration in Chandigarh, while a highly sought one, has a drawback. Many advisers in the past have had unceremonious exits with only a few managing to complete their tenures. Observers say that eight of the past 15 UT advisers had unceremonious exits, with R.S. Gujral serving the shortest stint, merely two months, before being moved out. Among the select few babus who managed to complete their three-year tenures (and more) is the first UT adviser to the Chandigarh administration, K. Banerjee, who lasted four years. Now babus are betting on the odds of Mr Rai managing to complete his tenure!
A babu battle:
An intense battle between two senior babus, one of whom is retired, in Gujarat has riveted the attention of many in the state. One of them, A.K. Vijay Kumar, who was reportedly “compulsorily retired” from the Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Ltd (GSPC) after allegations of financial irregularities has taken up cudgels against Atanu Chakraborty, the managing director of GSPC, for “bearing malice towards him” and approached the state high court against an FIR registered against him by the public sector undertaking’s management.
What’s of interest to babus and babu-watchers in Gujarat is that Mr Kumar is reputedly very well networked in Gandhinagar and Delhi. He was reportedly very close to an aide of Narendra Modi during Mr Modi’s long stint as chief minister of Gujarat, and who is still believed to be a key prime ministerial point-man in Gujarat. Mr Chakraborty, on the other hand, is believed to be “industry-friendly” and “urbane”. Some are watching to see if Mr Kumar’s powerful political connections will throw their weight behind the babu, even if the battle has escalated and is to be decided by the judiciary. Perhaps it may also show how deeply Mr Modi’s writ still runs in his home state.
Khadi Fridays:
Khadi has been unfashionable for a long time, with even netas increasingly shedding khadi for a more contemporary, Western “look”. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi, always nifty in his sartorial choices, has plans to revive khadi and khadi products. Apparently he has willy-nilly become the unofficial ambassador for khadi after he appealed to the public to buy at least one khadi garment. Though unconfirmed, it is believed that the sale of khadi products increased by over 60 per cent after Mr Modi’s appeal. Or call it Modi magic, which apparently still works!
According to sources, the Modi sarkar is seriously considering a proposal to introduce khadi as Friday dressing for Central government employees. If babus adopt it (the exercise will be entirely voluntary), it will certainly support the thousands of employees and weavers in khadi industry across the country. No reaction yet from babus on whether they support the proposal, but it is unlikely they will object too much to having to wear khadi on Fridays.
