Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s penchant for drama is such that he will never shy away from playing a victim card. Since last evening, Arvind Kejriwal and his ministers, Manish Sisodia, Gopal Rai and Satyendra Jain have been camping at the residence of Delhi LG, Anil Baijal, claiming that on behalf of people of Delhi, they ‘urge’ the LG to ‘take steps to end the strike by IAS officers’ and include written orders that those officers who do not return to their work shall be proceeded against.
Good Morning @LtGovDelhi Sir! Delhi CM and 3 ministers are still waiting in your waiting room since yesterday evening.
We hope today you’ll get time from your busy schedule to resolve these three issues . Till then we are waiting…. pic.twitter.com/q4SAZOZMvC— Manish Sisodia (@msisodia) June 12, 2018
Joining the bandwagon in helping Kejriwal spread this piece of information were the so-called journalists.
Why should IAS officers be on strike? Yes there’s a serious assault allegation involving the Chief Secretary but it’s being probed by the police, which comes under the Centre. So why go on strike and make the people of Delhi suffer? Let the police do their job
— Nidhi Razdan (@Nidhi) June 12, 2018
Why are some mocking this? IAS officials have no business going on strike & you don’t want doorstep delivery of services? https://t.co/YuDGfxPFFN
— Swati Chaturvedi (@bainjal) June 12, 2018
Dear Delhi babus, remember the people who suffer in the long term because of your short-term battles are innocent common folk of Delhi, toiling through a blazing summer with power and water shortages. You must answer the higher calling of your service https://t.co/32X9GgzFli
— Sagarika Ghose (@sagarikaghose) June 12, 2018
“As per law, the IAS cannot go on strike. There is no reason for the strike, they don’t have any demand,”
IANS quoted Kejriwal as saying. He added how some officials told him about being been under “pressure from the LG’s office”to not workhttps://t.co/m8VpFQo9Hb— Cobrapost (@cobrapost) June 12, 2018
Some ‘journalists’ even came out in support of Kejriwal casting aspersions on the Delhi Chief Secretary.
How do u know whether the CS was slapped or not ? …just asking https://t.co/6n6vmkjvfR
— Rupashree Nanda (@rupashreenanda) June 12, 2018
One question! Why are these babus still drawing their pay cheques when they are on strike? Paise bhi chahiye lekin kaam nahi karenge malik ko khush karne keliye! Wah! @JantaKaReporter https://t.co/WNjRZTMkta
— Rifat Jawaid (@RifatJawaid) June 12, 2018
They r probably being “paid” for not attending office, if they attend office the projects of govt will move further. No more doubt that it is only a conspiracy to halt the govt in Delhi led by Arvind Kejriwal. Let’s call spade a spade and LG is indeed responsible. https://t.co/QsUxK2nBaH
— ASHUTOSH MISHRA (@ashu3page) June 11, 2018
If Delhi Govt officers have been refusing to attend Delhi Govt meetings for 3 months now with no intervention, then something is seriously wrong here. Officers don’t belong to any party surely: LG, CM @ArvindKejriwal and IAS officers need to resolve the impasse.
— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) June 11, 2018
Why are these bureaucrats being paid salaries if they aren’t attending office? https://t.co/tNgqIIWkui
— Rohini Singh (@rohini_sgh) June 11, 2018
They r probably being “paid” for not attending office, if they attend office the projects of govt will move further. No more doubt that it is only a conspiracy to halt the govt in Delhi led by Arvind Kejriwal. Let’s call spade a spade and LG is indeed responsible. https://t.co/QsUxK2nBaH
— ASHUTOSH MISHRA (@ashu3page) June 11, 2018
‘The Wire’ journalist who is best known for floating mathematically and logically challenged conspiracy theories resulting in Rs. 100 crore defamation case, even tried to imply that meeting with LG is routed through his son, who ‘fixes’ them.
Have said it earlier. Why don’t they just ask Amlan Baijal? He usually fixes meetings with his dad! https://t.co/eGPExt3TyV
— Rohini Singh (@rohini_sgh) June 11, 2018
Earlier this year, in February, Delhi Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash had accused that AAP MLAs had assaulted him and threatened him with false cases in front of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. The IAS Association took a strong stand against the incident and condemned it. The Association wrote that while they will continue to work, they will register their protest against the incident by wearing a black badge. This was also widely reported by media.
In a statement released by the IAS Association has refuted the allegations put by Delhi Chief Minister. The IAS officers have clarified that there is no strike subsequent to the ‘unfortunate assault’ on the Delhi CS Anshu Prakash at CM’s residence ‘by MLAs in the presence of Cheif Minister and Deputy Chief Minister’. They strongly reiterated that the officers continue to work with ‘full vigour and dedication, in fact, many times even on holidays’. The officers have voiced concerns over their safety as well as threatening and bullying, including verbal assaults by many ministers.
The statement further states that all concerned officers have been attending all cabinet meetings, statutory meetings and meetings of public importance, saying that had the officers been on strike, the budget session wouldn’t have been held and the budget would not have been passed. Calling the allegations ‘unwarranted and baseless’, the statement gave a point by point rebuttal of Arvind Kejriwal’s allegation.
Kejriwal had alleged that IAS officer, Varsha Joshi did not pick up calls by Delhi Transport Minister and neither did she call back, when an affidavit was to be submitted to the Delhi High Court regarding the purchase of buses. The IAS officers’ statement says that on receipt of the mail on 30th May, a comprehensive note was prepared by the transport department. The statement reads,
‘The physical file bearing CD No.075465444 was sent to the Minister Transport on 31.05.18 at 11:00 AM and also through Whatsapp Message. However, office of Minister (Transport) refused to accept the file saying that Hon’ble Minister is out of station. Department made all efforts to contact Hon’ble Minister through his OSD Sh. Sanjay Dewan, without success. Since the Hon’ble Minister (Transport) did not pass any order on the file, the Commissioner Transport was compelled to appear herself personally before the Hon’ble Court on 01.06.2018 to avoid any adverse orders.’
Similarly, with matters pertaining to other departments, the IAS association claims that the ministers themselves did not appear for the meetings since they did not even turn up to their own offices. You may read rest of the statement here. The Delhi LG, Anil Baijal, too, released a statement calling this stunt of Kejriwal a ‘Dharna Without Reason’. Calling the dharna an ‘unprecedented move that betrays little respect and dignity for constitutional offices, the LG said that he has already spoken to the officers in the regard of issues raised by Kejriwal and that the Kejriwal and his ministers’ insistence that they are summoned is not ‘desirable’. Owing to his prior commitments and the fact that Kejriwal and his ministers refused to listen to the suggestions, the LG had to leave the office.
While Kejriwal and Aam Aadmi Party leaders spreading lies is not new, the mask of ‘journalists’ have also fallen down as they refused to check facts before fanning Kejriwal’s lies.
