As both houses of Parliament passes the historic Citizenship Amendment Bill to grant citizens to persecuted religious minorities in the three neighbouring countries, a concerted campaign to discredit the legislation has already begun by certain individuals who are now resorting to pushing half-truths to discredit the bill. After few intellectuals and activists indulged in fear-mongering, in a similar act, a Maharashtra cadre IPS officer Abdur Rahman has also joined this bandwagon claiming that he has decided to resign from the service as a protest against the “blatantly communal and unconstitutional” Citizenship Amendment Bill.
Following the passing of the Citizenship Amendment Bill, IPS officer Abdur Rahman, posted as special IGP in Mumbai, issued a statement stating that he will not attend office from Thursday in “civil disobedience” against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2019, which according to him went “against the basic feature of the Constitution.” Rahman on Wednesday sent his resignation letter to Chairman Maharashtra Human Rights Commission.
The #CitizenshipAmendmentBill2019 is against the basic feature of the Constitution. I condemn this Bill. In civil disobedience I have decided not attend office from tomorrow. I am finally quitting the service.@ndtvindia@IndianExpress #CitizenshipAmendmentBill2019 pic.twitter.com/Z2EtRAcJp4
— Abdur Rahman (@AbdurRahman_IPS) December 11, 2019
“This bill (Citizenship Amendment Bill) is against the religious pluralism of India. I request all justice-loving people to oppose the bill in a democratic manner. It runs against the very basic feature of the Constitution,” IPS officer Rehman said.
“The bill is against the basic feature of the Constitution. I condemn this bill. In civil disobedience, I have decided not to attend office from tomorrow. I am finally quitting the service,” Rahman said in the statement.
It is pertinent to note that Abdur Rahman, who is currently Special IGP, States Human Rights Commission of Maharashtra had already applied for a Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) in August citing ‘personal reasons’. However, his application was not accepted by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in October this year.
Interestingly, the officer had also filed an application in the Central Administrative Tribunal in November 2019 against MHA for rejecting his VRS application.
In his letter to Maharashtra Additional Chief Secretary, Abdur Rahman has stated that his resignation had been rejected “in haste, by not applying the mind, with clear prejudice, unfairly and abusing power of authority and discretion” as there was no pending departmental inquiry against him.
He claimed that he said that he had applied for VRS “owing to my personal reasons”, he would not be able to attend office on and from December 12.
The #CitizenshipAmendmentBill2019 is against the basic feature of the Constitution. I condemn this Bill. In civil disobedience I have decided not attend office from tomorrow. I am finally quitting the service.@ndtvindia@IndianExpress #CitizenshipAmendmentBill2019 pic.twitter.com/Z2EtRAcJp4
— Abdur Rahman (@AbdurRahman_IPS) December 11, 2019
With his VRS application already being rejected by the Home Ministry, the IPS officer has now chosen to ‘resign’ from the post for the second time from his post in the last five months after he claimed that he will not be attending the office from Thursday. It is interesting to note here that Abdur Rehman was already planning to retire since August. How this resignation is now being touted as a move against CAB simply to get mileage is rather baffling.
Addition to this, the integrity and conduct of IPS officer Abdur Rahman has been questioned several times in the past including allegations against him for supporting his community i.e Muslims over others.
In relation to the same, a criminal offence under various sections of IPC and Mumbai Police Act was registered in 2011 against Abdur Rahman casting aspersion over his moral turpitude and integrity. Attached to the complaint, the complainant had placed findings of the inquiry officer against Rahman’s inclination to his community. What that would essentially mean is that Rehman favoured candidates who were Muslim over other communities.
Read: Citizenship Amendment Bill – Myths and lies propagated against it, and the facts
Reportedly, Rahman has also committed irregularities in the police constable conducted in Yavatmal during his tenure to ensure special privilege and benefit to Muslim community candidates.
While questions are being raised against the official conduct of Abdur Rahman in the past, it is also important to note that how can he resign from a post for which he had already sought voluntary retirement. The officer whose VRS application was rejected by MHA has now chosen to call it his last day at work citing “civil disobedience” and CAB as a reason.
Further, it also raises questions on the conduct of the IPS officer who chose to indulge in propaganda against the historic Citizenship Amendment Bill by posturing that he had resigned from the post as a matter of ‘dissent’ despite the fact that he has already applied for the VRS scheme earlier.
It is also shocking to observe that the senior IPS officer with questionable morality is using such a sensitive time to push his ‘agenda’ by fear-mongering among the public, especially Muslims of the country by peddling half-truths regarding the Citizenship Amendment Bill.
After a long and heated debate, both the houses of Parliament has passed the Citizenship Amendment Bill. On Monday, the bill was passed in the Lok Sabha. The Rajya Sabha has passed the CAB with 125 votes in favour and 105 against. The Bill will now be law once the President signs on it.
The historic Citizenship Amendment Bill, after being passed by Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha both, paves the way for hundreds and thousands of persecuted minorities from the three neighbouring countries who have been residing in India for the past many years.
