In a scathing critique, the Congress party has condemned the government’s move to appoint officers, including those of joint secretary, director, and deputy secretary ranks, as “rath prabhari” or special officers. The party questioned the ethics of employing civil servants for what it termed “political propaganda,” especially in the context of upcoming elections.
“How can civil servants be ordered to do political propaganda for a government going into elections? IAS officers will be ‘Rath Prabharis’,” exclaimed Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera on X (date).
Khera revealed an official order dated October 18 from the Department of Revenue in the finance ministry. This directive detailed the appointment of officers from various services, at joint secretary, director, and deputy secretary levels, to serve as “rath prabhari” in each of the 765 districts across the nation, encompassing 2.69 lakh gram panchayats.
Expressing his dismay, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh criticized the move as “Narendra’s Another Megalomaniac Order” in a post on X, shared alongside Khera’s statement, taking a direct swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The order referred to an internal directive from the agriculture secretary on October 14, outlining plans for the “Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra,” a nationwide initiative aimed at highlighting the achievements of the Modi government over the past nine years. The Yatra, slated to run from November 20 to January 25, is intended to disseminate information, raise awareness, and extend services at the gram panchayat level.
“To coordinate the preparations, planning, execution, and monitoring of the Rath Yatra, they have decided to deploy joint secretaries, directors, and deputy secretaries of the Government of India as Rath Prabharis (special officers),” stated the order.
Sources close to the government revealed that Prime Minister Modi has set a six-month target to ensure the complete implementation of his administration’s welfare schemes. As part of this initiative, the government will launch the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra across all 2.7 lakh panchayats in the country, reaching out to beneficiaries and enrolling them in welfare programs. Specially-designed “raths” (chariots) will be utilized to connect with beneficiaries nationwide. At a recent cabinet meeting, the prime minister urged his colleagues to intensify efforts to swiftly reach deserving beneficiaries who are yet to benefit from welfare schemes.
