The Congress has taken strong objection to the Narendra Modi government’s plan to use bureaucrats and armed forces for publicising its achievements, alleging that all agencies, institutions, arms, wings and departments are now officially “pracharaks”.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said: “I am writing to you on a matter of great public importance which is of concern not just to the INDIA parties but also to people at large. This has to do with the gross misuse of government machinery taking place in the country today in service of the ruling political party.”

Kharge added: “I refer first to a recent letter in the public domain dated October 18, 2023, the subject of which states that senior officers, of ranks as high as joint secretary, director and deputy secretary, are to be deployed to all 765 districts of India. They are to be deployed as ‘Rath Prabharis’ to ‘showcase achievements of the last nine years of Government of India’. It is no coincidence that the last nine years correspond to your tenure in office. This is of grave concern for multiple reasons.”

Congress media department head Pawan Khera had on Saturday night posted on X an order dated October 18 of the department of revenue in the finance ministry regarding the nomination of officers of the ranks of joint secretary, director and deputy secretary pertaining to various services to be deployed as “Rath Prabharis” (rath in-charge) in each of the 765 districts in the country, covering 2.69 lakh gram panchayats.

Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh had condemned the move, saying: “This is Narendra’s Another Megalomaniac Order.” The order mentioned an internal communication of the agriculture secretary on October 14 regarding showcasing or celebrating the achievements of the last nine years of the Modi government through the “Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra” to be organised across the country from November 20 to January 25.

“In order to coordinate for the preparations, planning, execution, monitoring of the Rath Yatra, they have decided to deploy joint secretaries/ director/ deputy secretaries of Government of India as Rath Prabharis,” the order read.

Kharge said in his letter: “It is a clear violation of the Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, 1964, which directs that no government servant shall take part in any political activity. While it is acceptable for government officers to disseminate information, to make them ‘celebrate’ and ‘showcase’ achievements blatantly turns them into political workers of the ruling party. The fact that only ‘achievements’ of the last nine years are being considered, gives away the fact that this is a transparently political order in the run-up to the five state elections and the general elections of 2024.”

Arguing that the deployment of senior officers of departments for marketing activities of the current government will grind to a halt the governance of the country for the next six months, the Congress president said: “In addition, I refer to an order passed by the ministry of defence on October 9, 2023, directing soldiers on annual leave to spend time on promoting government schemes, making them ‘soldier-ambassadors’. The Army Training Command, which should be focused on preparing our jawans to defend the nation, is busy preparing scripts and training manuals on how to promote government schemes.”

Kharge added: “It is of utmost importance in a democracy that the Armed Forces are kept out of politics. The loyalty of every jawan is to the nation and to the Constitution. To force our soldiers to become marketing agents of government schemes is a dangerous step towards politicisation of the Armed Forces. Furthermore, after many months or years of difficult service to our nation, our jawans deserve complete freedom on their annual leave, to spend time with their families and restore energy for continued service. Their leave must not be hijacked for political purposes.”

Asking for the withdrawal of the two orders, Kharge said: “In both cases, of civil servants and soldiers, it is essential that the government machinery is kept out of politics, especially so in the months leading up to an election. In addition to the Enforcement Directorate, the income tax department and the CBI already acting as election departments of the BJP, the orders mentioned above put the entire government machinery to work as if they are agents of the ruling party.”

BJP president J.P. Nadda said the plan was aimed at reaching out to beneficiaries. “It baffles me to see the Congress have an issue with public servants reaching the grassroots to ensure saturation of schemes. If this is not the basic tenet of governance, what is?”