Opinion Express view: By issuing notices on AAP’s campaign promises, the Babu is trying to be a politician

Senior bureaucrats, more than most, should know — and respect — the red line between the mandate of an elected political executive and unelected officers. It is not for the latter — unless they are explicitly mandated by the Constitution to do so, as in the case of Election Commissioners — to comment on the election promises of political parties and the processes by which they campaign and garner support. In essence, the fundamental principle that at least two senior officers in the Delhi government have breached is this: They are not political actors, and they should not act as such. On Wednesday, two notices were issued by a Joint Director in the Department of Women and Child Development and the Special Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Department. Both notices called promises by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) “fraudulent”. Even by the warped standards of the dysfunctional relationship between the AAP-led Delhi government and the bureaucracy, the notices are shocking.

The bureaucrats appear to have taken issue with two schemes. The Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojna (MMSY) — announced in the last state budget — which promises non-tax paying women Rs 1,000 per month was cleared earlier this month. The second is a promise of free healthcare to people above 60 years of age, which is yet to receive the Cabinet’s nod. AAP has also promised to raise the disbursement under the MMSY to Rs 2,100 if re-elected in the forthcoming Assembly elections. Currently, the party is carrying out a registration drive for both schemes. The statement that the MMSY “has not been notified” is patently false. And to say that the collection of data by the AAP is “fraudulent and without authority,” is also contentious: Ruling parties have carried out such drives without inviting such a strong response. For example, a registration exercise for the Mahtari Vandana Yojna, which also promised a stipend to women voters, was carried out by the BJP in 2023. It is also important to note that the election dates for the Delhi polls are yet to be announced and the Model Code of Conduct is not in effect: The government and political parties are, as elsewhere in the country, within their rights to formulate and announce policy at this juncture.

Advertisement

The AAP leadership has responded to the notices by saying that they are politically motivated. Bureaucrats, like all Indian citizens, have the right to engage in partisan politics — but to do so, they should formally join political parties and relinquish their official posts. In any other context, the actions in Delhi are indefensible. Did any officer invoke fiscal reforms to object to campaign speech after speech in Maharashtra promising a raise in the Ladki Bahini scheme’s entitlement? Will a Secretary in the Union Finance or Home Ministry, or the Chief Secretary of any state for that matter, issue a notice against poll promises made by their ministers? Of course, in Delhi, the relationship between the elected government and services is fraught — but even by those standards, this is the babu playing neta. Either the babus lack a spine and are rubber-stamping as per orders — or they are freelancers more loyal than their king. Either way, their actions are a shameful dent in the steel frame.