New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah has warned party leaders against seeking instant publicity through viral videos that show them admonishing civil servants.
According to BJP leaders, Shah delivered the message while addressing newly elected party MLAs in Chhattisgarh. Such “a hunt for instant publicity does not address problems”, he told them, referring to such politicians as “video veers”.
“These days, it has become a fashion to make videos. They (public representatives start making videos while talking to the bureaucracy, and put them on social media… it only gives instant publicity to representatives, and doesn’t address the problem in the long run.”
As party president, he added, “I have seen the defeat of such ‘video-veer’ politicians with big margins.”
Leaders, he said, “should instead “give time to the bureaucracy to solve problems, mostly through passing instructions in writing”.
The warning came after several instances of party leaders making headlines over such episodes.
Last month, Rajasthan BJP MLA Balmukund Acharya, soon after winning the election, ordered the immediate closure of all non-vegetarian street-food stalls in his area in Jaipur — before the formation of the government and even the oath ceremony.
A viral video showed Acharya on call with a police officer, issuing instructions to this end.
On Sunday, Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, addressing a Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra rally in Guna district, got angry when district collector Aman Veer Singh and Superintendent of Police Sanjeev Kumar Sinha did not get up on the dais as he made his address.
“Where is the SP, call him… both should stand on the dais, not among the public,” he is heard saying in a viral video of the event.
“The Viksit Bharat yatra is not an election campaign. It’s a commitment of the prime minister to fulfil central welfare schemes, and every officer will travel side by side with the yatra,” he added.
The new Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Mohan Yadav, has been in the news for punishing civil servants for using harsh language in public dealings, and for allegedly failing to complete his duties, and announcing his actions against them on social media.
Similarly, Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar, in an address on Anti-Corruption Day in December, called for naming and shaming of officers who are corrupt. He said the names of the “most corrupt officers” should be put up on boards in public places as a message to others.
In 2022, MP Nishikant Dubey’s social media spat with the Deoghar district magistrate had made news.
A senior BJP leader said Shah’s message was not meant for any one leader “but everyone who thinks that they can make their image by admonishing officers”.
“One only builds an image when representatives deliver,” the leader added. “In a democratic setup, political workers can deliver with the help of bureaucracy, everybody should learn from the example of the prime minister, whose style of working — taking the bureaucracy along and motivating them to deliver on targets — has created a new governance model in the country,” the leader added.
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‘Become responsible’
In his address, BJP leaders said, Shah cited Chanakya and said that “several times, to fulfil public aspirations, struggle takes place between public representatives and officers, but they have their own limitations”.
“Our priority should be to solve problems. Not got publicity. To solve problems, there are many ways, like file PILs, hold protests — all routes are open… but the most effective way is to study a problem and give instructions in writing to the bureaucracy, under which rule a certain problem can be addressed, and give them some time to solve the problem,” he said.
“We should develop ways to address problems in consultation with officers. The administration only supports those representatives who are responsible, able and competent in their work.”
Chhattisgarh BJP MLA Moti Lal Sahu, who was present at the meeting, told ThePrint that “the message of the home minister was to become responsible public representatives and solve people’s problems without creating fuss”.
“It can only happen when MLAs and MPs are alert and responsible. Bulldozing officers does not work in the long run in government,” he added.
Chhattisgarh BJP MLA Gajendra Yadav said “another suggestion was to understand how things can be done even while in the Opposition”.
“Amit Shah said that people don’t bother whether a scheme was launched by the central government or the state government,” he added. “Whoever delivers on the scheme on the ground, they take credit. When Amit Shah was an MLA in Gujarat, the central government was led by the Congress but he was very active in ensuring the benefit of the Indira awaas scheme (now PM Gramin Awas Yojana) in his constituency.”
People, the MLA added, “believed that he has given them houses so it’s necessary for public representatives to know how to fulfil the aspiration of people with the help of the bureaucracy”.
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)
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