Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu and the IAS fraternity of Arunachal condemned the assault on Delhi Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs recently in front of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Condemning the assault on the top bureaucrat in Delhi, Khandu on his Twitter handle stated, “Bureaucracy is the backbone of any government and should be treated with outmost respect & dignity. I strongly condemn the incident of #DelhiChiefSecretary.”
Delhi Chief Secretary Prakash was assaulted by AAP MLAs during a meeting at Chief Minister Kejriwal’s residence which sparked protests on Tuesday and the bureaucrats of Delhi threatened to go for pen-down strike in government offices in the capital.
The Union Home Ministry on Tuesday sought a report from Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on the assault case.
In a press release issued by Sadhana Deori, lAS, Secretary (GA) on behalf of the IAS Officers’ Association of Arunachal Pradesh, stated that the IAS fraternity of Arunachal Pradesh vehemently condemns the reprehensible assault on the Chief Secretary of Delhi by the elected legislators of Delhi.
“Such an undignified act is highly deplorable. This calls into question the harmonious relationship between the civil service and the elected wing of the government and will lead to impairment of the effective functioning of the bureaucracy in free and impartial manner,” Deori stated in the release.
Stating that the assault of the Chief Secretary of a State government amounts to threat to life, the Association in the release said, “The behaviour of the elected representatives with the Head of the Bureaucracy in the State Govt amounts to threat to life and physical safety of a public servant on duty and should be meted with severe legal action.”
The Association further stated that “the incident that took place at the official residence of the Chief Minister is appalling and will erode the morale of hard working sincere officers if no action is taken against the culprits”.
The bureaucracy works tirelessly, fearlessly and silently under the Constitution of India and any action such as the one done by some of the elected representatives at Delhi that thwart “these very fundamentals” is bound to be against public interest, the Association also stated.
Extending their solidarity towards the IAS Association of Delhi, the IAS Association of Arunachal Pradesh added, “The IAS Association of Arunachal Pradesh registers a strong protest against the incident with the Chief Secretary of Delhi and stands in solidarity with the IAS Association of Delhi.”
Meanwhile, Delhi Police on Tuesday night arrested AAP MLA Prakash Jarwal a few hours after Chief Secretary Prakash accused some ruling party lawmakers of assaulting him at the residence of Chief Minister Kejriwal on Monday night. Jarwal was arrested after he was detained from his home at Deoli in south Delhi.
Delhi Police also detained Kejriwal’s adviser, VK Jain, from his house in Maharani Bagh on Wednesday morning for questioning.