India Tomorrow
NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 2—Objecting to the promo of a show, a group of 91 retired bureaucrats have demanded legal and administrative action against chief managing director (CMD) and editor-in-chief of Sudarshan TV, Suresh Chavhanke.
They have demanded the action in a letter written to Home Minister Amit Shah and Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar.
The letter said that the promo of the proposed telecast was “communally charged and divisive” as it said that there was a “conspiracy” in the “overwhelming” number of Muslim candidates clearing the Union Public Service Commission examinations the results of which were declared a few weeks ago.
The letter, signed by several retired IAS, IPS, IFS and IRS officers, said that even though the Delhi High Court has granted an interim stay on the telecast, “stronger legal and administrative action is warranted.”
Calling the allegations and the use of terms like “UPSC Jihad” perverse, the letter said that the program, if telecast, will generate hate against Muslims at a time when hate speech against the community is already prevalent.
“We feel stronger legal and administrative action is warranted. It is completely perverse to allege that there is a conspiracy to infiltrate Muslim officers into the services, or to use terms like UPSC Jihad or Civil Services Jihad in this connection. These communal and irresponsible statements amount to hate speech and are defamatory of an entire community,” the former bureaucrats said in the letter.
Stating that the claims made by the Sudarshan TV are not factual, they said that Muslims represented only 3.46 per cent of the IAS and IPS force as per data available with Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).
The letter said that if the telecast is allowed, it will not only generate hatred towards the largest minority community but will also spoil the reputation of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and suggest that the selections done by UPSC are not fair and unbiased.
They have also sent copies of the letter to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) as also to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Lt. Governor Anil Baijal and Delhi Police Commissioner S.N. Shrivastava.
