Speak no evil

In the run-up to West Bengal election, the BJP’s central think tank probably thought projecting a bold and muscular image would help it win the elections. So, it beat up Bengali-speaking migrant workers all over the country, even pushing some across the border to Bangladesh. Then elections were held after knocking off at least 35 lakh people who could well be valid voters. TMC’s election manager’s office was raided and its senior official arrested during the polls and released after they were over.

After winning West Bengal, the projection of brute force continues. Bulldozers have been deployed at various locations in an around Kolkata to tear down whatever comes in the way. OBC reservation for minorities has been abolished. Those raising voice against the state government have been arrested. Municipalities and Panchayats have been taken over by force.

The latest in the crack-down list is a gag order on government employees. On 19 May, the Chief Secretary issued an administrative directive (Circular No. 139-CS) to all state departments, district magistrates and police units enforcing a strict restriction on public and media communication by state officials. The accompanying compliance order from the Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department followed.

The scope of these orders is unusually wide, covering members of the All-India Services (such as IAS and IPS), the West Bengal Civil Service (WBCS), the West Bengal Police Service and all employees of state government bodies, autonomous institutions and state-funded educational entities. The orders impose complete prohibition on participating in or associating with any privately produced, sponsored media programmes without prior government sanction.

Bureaucrats and employees face a complete ban on sharing official documents, files or administrative information with the press. They are barred from editing, managing or contributing to newspapers and periodicals and may not write letters, articles or participate in radio or television broadcasts.

There is a complete ban on making any adverse or critical public comment on policies, functioning or decisions of either the state or the central government. Officials are also prohibited from making public statements or media contributions that could strain relationships between the West Bengal government and the centre, other states or foreign nations.

West Bengal’s new administration maintains that the orders introduce no new policy but merely reinforce existing legal frameworks — the All-India Services (Conduct) Rules, 1968, and the West Bengal Service Rules, 1980 — to preserve bureaucratic discipline, subtle but consequential differences have been introduced.

While the order allows media participation with prior sanction, the 1980 rule specified media participation with prior intimation, the transition from intimation to sanction being the key factor. There is now a blanket prohibition on article/letter writing without permission, which the 1980 rule allowed.

On the question of democratic rights, the order prohibits adverse criticism, publication, utterance, interaction and media contribution. The 1980 rule permitted such activities, except for government employees becoming members of any political party. While the scope of the secrecy clause has been expanded under the new order, the 1980 rules prohibited dissemination of only secret documents to public domain. Also, while the order brought all-India services, WBCS and other employees under its ambit, the 1980 rule excluded the all-India services, the police and jail staff.

The latest orders have led to widespread criticism; but the state government remains unfazed. “This is an old standing order, something like a “no standing on footboard” notice you see on buses, to which no one pays attention. But they do reveal a degree of panic and concern.

After all it was the same government officers and employees who supplied information to the BJP on the inner workings of the TMC government, which is neither illegal nor undemocratic. But true to BJP's scheme of things, the new government is using democratic means to deny democratic space to the opposition,” said former bureaucrat and Rajya Sabha member Jawhar Sircar.

Sourabh Sen is a Kolkata-based independent writer and commentator on politics, human rights and foreign affairs. More of his writing here