Arvind Kejriwal is not the first former government official to have entered politics.
New Delhi: For decades, we have been hearing the slogan, “Officer-shahi Nahi Chalegi”. The public too is angry with the attitude of the government officers; councillors, MLAs and MPs of various political parties too have complaints about many officers. But gradually, parties and then people have started to include good officers in power politics. The biggest such example is Arvind Kejriwal. He not only came into politics, formed a party, became the Chief Minister of the Union Territory of Delhi twice, but in just 10 years, he expanded the party and has now formed government of the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab with Bhagwant Mann as Chief Minister. Arvind Kejriwal’s supporters and some media persons have started projecting him as the future leader of the opposition to the current Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Yogi Adityanath in the coming years. But he is not the first former government official who entered politics. Even before him, experienced government officers have become MLAs, MPs, ministers and Chief Ministers after resigning from their jobs or after retirement. Therefore, it is difficult to predict anyone’s political future beyond five or 10 years.
Arvind Kejriwal joined the Indian Revenue Service, working for seven to eight years or taking leave to study abroad, and leaving the post of Joint Commissioner, first for the Right to Information campaign and then for the Anna Hazare movement. Before him, only two persons from the civil services became Chief Minister. In Madhya Pradesh, for the first time in 1967, Govind Narayan Singh became the Chief Minister of the Samvid (Samyukta Vidhayak Dal) government formed after breaking the Congress. He remained in jail from 1942 to 1944 during the freedom movement. After getting education at Banaras University, he became ICS (later called IAS) by taking the British tradition administrative service examination of 1948 immediately after independence and became Assistant Regional Commissioner in Vindhya Pradesh. Within a year or so, he quit his job and became active in grassroots politics. His father Awadhesh Pratap Singh was the Raja of Vindhyas and then the Chief Minister.
Upon the formation of Madhya Pradesh, he became a minister in Ravi Shankar Shukla’s Congress government and in the government of Govind Narayan Singh veteran Chanakya, Dwarka Prasad Mishra, like his right hand. But later, angered by the attitude of Mishra, revolted overnight with his supporters, Rajmata Gwalior’s Rajmata Vijayaraje became the Chief Minister with the support of Scindia’s Bharatiya Jana Sangh. In a way, this was the first political revolution in North India. Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann are calling Punjab’s liberation from Congress the first revolution. But Govind Narayan Singh formed a civil government with the rebellion in 1967 by forming the Jan Kranti Dal. Not only this, the process of making MLAs spoiled overnight in the shadow of temptation, money, position and separate hotels, palaces and guns had started. Nevertheless, this alliance broke before two years and then the Congress government was formed. Yes, after that Govind Narayan Singh could not again become the Chief Minister or the Union Minister despite being capable. After about 20 years, Rajiv Gandhi sent him as the Governor of Bihar. There, the Chief Minister of Congress Bhagwat Jha came to the point of confrontation and after a year and a half, had to step down from the post of Governor. First on his arrival in Delhi and later on becoming the Governor, I got many opportunities for long talks with him in Patna. That’s why I can say that he was a very learned politician. He had amazing authority on politics, administration and spiritual subjects. But like his old friend Dwarka Mishra, he could not become a contender for the Prime Minister.
The second IAS officer was Ajit Jogi, who quit his job during the rule of Rajiv Gandhi and became a member of the Rajya Sabha and became the Chief Minister when Chhattisgarh was formed. He ran the government with fierce factionalism and arbitrariness. But later, due to many serious allegations, the chief minister’s post did not go, he was expelled from the party. Only a few who came out of administrative service came into politics under Indira Gandhi. But since the rule of Rajiv Gandhi, the number of people leaving government officials and coming to governments, parliament and legislative assembly kept increasing. In this view, there is a long list of people leaving the Foreign Service (IFS) and Administrative Service (IAS) and joining politics.
Nowadays, many people raise questions on the arrival of former officers in some important ministries in the Modi government and there is talk of commitment. They probably need to be reminded that before the Modi Raj, many senior officials like Yashwant Sinha, Natwar Singh, Mani Shankar Aiyar, Meira Kumar, N.K. Singh, Bhagirath Prasad have held power politics and important positions.
Experienced officials like S. Jaishankar, Hardeep Singh Puri, R.K. Singh, Alphons, Satipal Singh, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Arvind Sharma, and Ramchandra Prasad Singh have joined in recent years, but they are not prime ministerial contenders like Kejriwal. Yes, Yashwant Sinha must have cherished dreams of becoming Prime Minister or President. Natwar Singh and Mani Shankar Aiyar did not try to become Prime Minister despite being very close to the Gandhi family. However, it is everyone’s right to dream of positions in administration or politics. The question is, how much benefit can the society and the whole country get with these dreams in a democracy? In the new era, more work will be seen than prophecy.
The writer is editorial director of ITV Network-India News and Aaj Samaj Dainik.For decades, we have been hearing the slogan, “Officer-shahi Nahi Chalegi”. The public too is angry with the attitude of the government officers; councillors, MLAs and MPs of various political parties too have complaints about many officers. But gradually, parties and then people have started to include good officers in power politics. The biggest such example is Arvind Kejriwal. He not only came into politics, formed a party, became the Chief Minister of the Union Territory of Delhi twice, but in just 10 years, he expanded the party and has now formed government of the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab with Bhagwant Mann as Chief Minister. Arvind Kejriwal’s supporters and some media persons have started projecting him as the future leader of the opposition to the current Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Yogi Adityanath in the coming years. But he is not the first former government official who entered politics. Even before him, experienced government officers have become MLAs, MPs, ministers and Chief Ministers after resigning from their jobs or after retirement. Therefore, it is difficult to predict anyone’s political future beyond five or 10 years.
Arvind Kejriwal joined the Indian Revenue Service, working for seven to eight years or taking leave to study abroad, and leaving the post of Joint Commissioner, first for the Right to Information campaign and then for the Anna Hazare movement. Before him, only two persons from the civil services became Chief Minister. In Madhya Pradesh, for the first time in 1967, Govind Narayan Singh became the Chief Minister of the Samvid (Samyukta Vidhayak Dal) government formed after breaking the Congress. He remained in jail from 1942 to 1944 during the freedom movement. After getting education at Banaras University, he became ICS (later called IAS) by taking the British tradition administrative service examination of 1948 immediately after independence and became Assistant Regional Commissioner in Vindhya Pradesh. Within a year or so, he quit his job and became active in grassroots politics. His father Awadhesh Pratap Singh was the Raja of Vindhyas and then the Chief Minister.
Upon the formation of Madhya Pradesh, he became a minister in Ravi Shankar Shukla’s Congress government and in the government of Govind Narayan Singh veteran Chanakya, Dwarka Prasad Mishra, like his right hand. But later, angered by the attitude of Mishra, revolted overnight with his supporters, Rajmata Gwalior’s Rajmata Vijayaraje became the Chief Minister with the support of Scindia’s Bharatiya Jana Sangh. In a way, this was the first political revolution in North India. Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann are calling Punjab’s liberation from Congress the first revolution. But Govind Narayan Singh formed a civil government with the rebellion in 1967 by forming the Jan Kranti Dal. Not only this, the process of making MLAs spoiled overnight in the shadow of temptation, money, position and separate hotels, palaces and guns had started. Nevertheless, this alliance broke before two years and then the Congress government was formed. Yes, after that Govind Narayan Singh could not again become the Chief Minister or the Union Minister despite being capable. After about 20 years, Rajiv Gandhi sent him as the Governor of Bihar. There, the Chief Minister of Congress Bhagwat Jha came to the point of confrontation and after a year and a half, had to step down from the post of Governor. First on his arrival in Delhi and later on becoming the Governor, I got many opportunities for long talks with him in Patna. That’s why I can say that he was a very learned politician. He had amazing authority on politics, administration and spiritual subjects. But like his old friend Dwarka Mishra, he could not become a contender for the Prime Minister.
The second IAS officer was Ajit Jogi, who quit his job during the rule of Rajiv Gandhi and became a member of the Rajya Sabha and became the Chief Minister when Chhattisgarh was formed. He ran the government with fierce factionalism and arbitrariness. But later, due to many serious allegations, the chief minister’s post did not go, he was expelled from the party. Only a few who came out of administrative service came into politics under Indira Gandhi. But since the rule of Rajiv Gandhi, the number of people leaving government officials and coming to governments, parliament and legislative assembly kept increasing. In this view, there is a long list of people leaving the Foreign Service (IFS) and Administrative Service (IAS) and joining politics.
Nowadays, many people raise questions on the arrival of former officers in some important ministries in the Modi government and there is talk of commitment. They probably need to be reminded that before the Modi Raj, many senior officials like Yashwant Sinha, Natwar Singh, Mani Shankar Aiyar, Meira Kumar, N.K. Singh, Bhagirath Prasad have held power politics and important positions.
Experienced officials like S. Jaishankar, Hardeep Singh Puri, R.K. Singh, Alphons, Satipal Singh, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Arvind Sharma, and Ramchandra Prasad Singh have joined in recent years, but they are not prime ministerial contenders like Kejriwal. Yes, Yashwant Sinha must have cherished dreams of becoming Prime Minister or President. Natwar Singh and Mani Shankar Aiyar did not try to become Prime Minister despite being very close to the Gandhi family. However, it is everyone’s right to dream of positions in administration or politics. The question is, how much benefit can the society and the whole country get with these dreams in a democracy? In the new era, more work will be seen than prophecy.
The writer is editorial director of ITV Network-India News and Aaj Samaj Dainik.