Debate over civil service rules takes communal turn

CHENNAI: While IAS officer C Umashankar, ordered by the state government to stop propagating his faith, consulted his lawyers over his future course of action, the debate over whether civil servants can propagate a religion publicly has deepened. Though major political parties have remained silent on the issue, smaller groups are weighing in. The social media became a forum yet again for these debates.
Tamil Manila Congress leader G K Vasan said every person has the right to follow any religion but an officer should act as per conduct rules. Coming out strongly against Umashankar, former Union cabinet secretary TSR Subramanian said service conduct rules curtail the fundamental rights of IAS officials. He said civil servants are allowed to work with NGOs and other organizations only in sports, culture, science and charity. The implication was that they cannot propagate any particular religion.
He argued that an official can’t be compared with the common man when it came to the exercise of fundamental rights. “A civil servant’s dharma is governance and his book should be the conduct rules. His office should be used only for governance,” he said.
Umashankar, however, continued to remain defiant. “I am getting a lot of support from various quarters. I am consulting with my lawyers to draft the affidavit. I will soon file a case. I strongly believe I have every right to preach. No one can stop me. I am not involved in conversions. I have been preaching only among Christians. If Hindu or Muslim people wish to listen to my prayers then I will talk to them also,” Umashankar told TOI.
Umashankar continued to charge the government with malafide intentions. On Monday he indicated that the state government had joined hands with Hindu groups since BJP was in power in Delhi. He said that the current government order against him was only the latest case of victimization. He said given his seniority he should have reached the rank of principal secretary but promotions have been denied to him. He also said that there was no legal bar on conversions though he wasn’t involved in converting people.
The debate took a sectarian turn with some Hindu groups coming out against Umashankar and Christian ones supporting him. Hindu Munnani leader Rama Gopalan said his organization had often condemned Umashankar for continuously engaging in preaching and propagating a particular denomination of the Christian faith and that it had filed a complaint with the government on this matter. He demanded that the state government should take stringent action against the officials for trying to attribute motives on the government action.
In a letter last week, Chief Secretary K Gnanadesikan had told Commissioner of disciplinary proceedings Umashankar that it had come to the government's notice that he was to take part in 'preaching and propagating activities' in Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi and Kanniyakumari districts from January 24 to January 26 which were likely to cause communal disharmony and disturbance to public order. The direction also said that he should not indulge in such activities which are unbecoming of a member of the service.