Faced communal slur from senior for first time in my career, Youth Affairs Joint Director complains

COMPLAINT AGAINST DIRECTOR GENERAL, NEHRU YUVA KENDRA

IN TWO official letters, a Joint Director at the Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS), an autonomous body under the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, has complained about what he calls his senior’s “communal, biased and divisive mentality.”

In an email sent to L K Gupta, Joint Secretary, Department of Youth Affairs, Joint Director Chaudhary M Atif has alleged that Maj Gen Dilawar Singh, Director General, NYKS, told him during a meeting that his (Atif”s) “heart beats on religious lines only.”

In the email, dated January 9, 2017, Atif wrote: “Never in professional life have I experienced such a communal comment from any of my seniors or my colleagues.”

When contacted by The Indian Express, Atif said: “I hope justice will be done. That is why I am pursuing the matter.”

Singh, when contacted, denied the allegations and said he had “great respect for Islam and Muslims.”

Atif alleged that at a department meeting on January 9, Dilawar Singh asked him why he had not responded to his text message the previous day about the admission of one Upendra Thakur (state director of NYKS Maharashtra) to the hospital.

Atif said he couldn’t reply since he was busy at a social event. To which Dilawar Singh said, according to Atif: “Your heart beats on religious lines only.”