Time to fulfil ‘rajdharma’: Congress targets Yadav after aides’ removal

The Congress on Friday sharpened its attack on Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav, urging him to uphold the spirit of “rajdharma” and take moral responsibility after four officials linked to his office were removed from their positions.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh invoked the idea of accountability in public life, drawing upon the legacy of former prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, who resigned as railway minister following a major train accident in Tamil Nadu seven decades ago.

In a post on X, Ramesh said Shastri had established a benchmark of ministerial responsibility by accepting accountability for events within his ministry, questioning whether such principles still guided political conduct today.

“Ministers must accept moral and political responsibility when their closest aides face action over alleged wrongdoing,” Ramesh argued. He said a minister would be accountable either for being aware of alleged misconduct or for failing to detect it while those around him were involved.

Calling upon Bhupender Yadav to follow his “rajdharma”, Ramesh referred to former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s advice to then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, stressing that the term represented not only the duty to govern but also the obligation to accept responsibility.

The Congress leader’s remarks came a day after the party alleged that the removal of four officials from Yadav’s office pointed to a serious controversy within the Environment Ministry. The opposition party accused the government of a governance failure and claimed the ministry had weakened its role in protecting India’s forests and ecological resources.

Taking a swipe at the ministry’s functioning, Ramesh had earlier described it as having transformed from a “Paryavaran Mantralay” into a “Pravachan Mantralay”, alleging that it had become more focused on speeches than environmental action.

Official orders issued on 3 July stated that the ministry had removed Yadav’s private secretary and two additional private secretaries. While one official was relieved on administrative grounds, another’s appointment was terminated and a third was prematurely repatriated to their parent cadre.

The government has not issued any public response to the Congress’s allegations linking the removals to corruption.

With PTI inputs