IPS officer offers to campaign for BJP after retirement

LUCKNOW : Just days before his retirement, a senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer from Uttar Pradesh has created a stir by writing to chief minister Yogi Adityanath about his post-retirement plan that includes an offer to campaign for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The letter by Surya Kumar Shukla, a 1982-batch officer who is set to retire at the end of this month, has gone viral on social media. Shukla is posted as director general (DG) home guards. While the list of bureaucrats who joined politics after retirement is long, this is the first time a serving officer has written to the government, offering to campaign for a political party.

“Main sevanivritt hone ke baad mein, varsh 2019 mein honey wale chunav ke prachar prasar main aapka sakriya sahyog karna chahta hoon (Post retirement, I wish to actively help you in campaigning for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls),” Shukla has said in his letter in which he goes on to add that he has full faith in the BJP’s policies and programmes.The officer’s offer has provided the Samajwadi Party (SP) an opportunity to accuse the ruling party of politicising the bureaucracy “in a manner no one else could”.

SP spokesman Abdul Hafiz Gandhi said, “If serving officers start talking of a political role, then it’s scary.” Shukla later said the media was quoting him out of context and that he was free to take a call on pursuing his interests post retirement and his options include joining politics.

“It’s not fit for me for to reveal or comment on the contents of a missive that is between me and the chief minister,” Shukla said. But, in his letter, Shukla hasn’t just stopped at hinting at a political role.

In fact, he has also gone on to list vacancies in the government, where he feels he could be accommodated. These posts include vice chairman of the state planning commission, chairman of the state social welfare board, chairman of the khadi gramodyog board and chairman of the state pollution control board.

A 1982BATCH IPS OFFICER SURYA KUMAR SHUKLA IS SET TO RETIRE AT THE END OF THIS MONTH

“If I am appointed to any of these posts after retirement, it would entitle me to move across the state and stay in government guest houses, through which I would be able to offer all support that you deem fit,” Shukla said.

Earlier, Shukla courted controversy by taking a Ram temple pledge at an event organised by Akhil Bharatiya Vichar Manch on Lucknow University campus.

The video of the police officer taking a temple pledge had gone viral in February. Then too, Shukla had admitted to participating in the event and taking the pledge, but said his words were misinterpreted.

In July, a police officer posted in the police area in which Gorakhpur’s Gorakhnath temple is situated, was caught on camera touching the chief minister’s feet. Yogi Adityanath is the head priest of the Gorakhnath temple.

The officer had explained that it was done in his personal capacity out of respect for the monk chief minister.