J&K chief secy sparks row over ‘corrupt’ ministers
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Secretary B.V.R. Subrahmanyam’s remarks that its political leaders were “corrupt” and, therefore, not a “single soul had cried” over their detention in August last year has drawn flak from various political parties of the erstwhile state. They have accused him of contravening service rules and breaching propriety.
The CS had on Friday while speaking to a group of visiting mediapersons here said, “J&K was a broken state and there was no system in place due to years of mis-governance, corruption and unbelievable levels of fraud committed by leaders of mainstream parties and separatist organisations.” He had added that, therefore, “not a single soul had cried” over their detention on August 5 last year when the state was stripped of its special status and split up into two Union Territories.
He claimed that J&K was “a big Ponzi scheme,” when he was sent here in June 2018 and was asked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, ‘Go, clean up the administration, rebuild it and hand over the ‘amanat’ (precious possession) to the local people’.
Reacting sharply to his remarks, People’s
Democratic Party (PDP) said that the CS has committed “gross abuse” of civil service rules and asked him “If no one sheds a tear for them why are the leaders jailed under PSA (Public Safety Act)?”. It termed Mr Subrahmanyam’s remarks as “uncalled for and utterly flagitious.”
The PDP accused him of having come to J&K “with a colonial mindset and being the chief executioner of RSS” in the erstwhile state. “It is ironic that he is finding fault with the entire population of J&K while running the most corrupt administration that the state has ever witnessed. He is, in fact, heading a cabal of officers who are affiliated with RSS and are enforcing their agenda in Kashmir. IAS has never stooped to this low.”
The PDP alleged, “His only fame to glory is establishing a culture of impunity, polarised administration, systematic sidelining of local officers, fragmenting of bureaucracy on feudal lines and perpetuating the quid pro quo culture of rewarding incompetence. This is the part of the RSS campaign to destroy the identity of Kashmir and they are now attributing criminal charges on almost everybody in Kashmir in the name of terrorism, separatism and corruption.”