New Delhi: A group of former judges and bureaucrats has responded to another ex-bureaucrats’ group, which raised worry over “politics of hatred” in an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing it of “virtue signaling” and attempting to sway public opinion in vain.
The organization, which calls itself ‘Concerned Citizens,’ claims that the Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG), an association of retired officials, did not write an open letter to PM Modi with “sincere objectives.”
They said the letter was the group’s way to let out its frustration against the public opinion which remains “solidly behind Modi” and cited BJP’s recent election wins.
The open letter to PM Modi was signed by eight former judges, 97 former bureaucrats, and 92 former military forces officers in response to the CCG’s letter criticizing him and past BJP regimes, which was signed by 108 former officials.
“Their ‘anger and anguish’ is not only empty virtue-signalling, but they are also actually fuelling the politics of hate they seek to combat by attempting to engineer hate against the present government with their patent prejudices and false portrayals,” said ‘Concerned Citizens’.
“That these open letters repeat the same language, have the same tenor and use biased terms with clear ideological moorings speaks for itself.” The group tried to draw attention to a “striking similarity between the phraseology of the CCG missives and utterances in the western media or by western agencies” questioning the group’s intent.
It also called out its alleged “silence” on post-poll violence in West Bengal.
“It lays bare their cynical and unprincipled approach to issues,” the PM Modi-defending group said.
“The same attitude shapes their reactions (or rather the lack of any reaction) to the multiple violent incidents in various states ruled by different political parties and targeted violation of human rights adversely affecting the livelihoods of the poor irrespective of their religion,” it said.
The “calculated omissions” of the CCG, according to the ex-judges and officials, exposed it.
They further said that under the BJP leadership, major sectarian violence has “palpably” diminished, which has been welcomed by the populace.
“This has instigated groups like the CCG to highlight beyond proportion sporadic instances of communal violence that no society can entirely eradicate,” it said.
The 108 former civil servants had written to PM Modi, urging him to call for an end to what they termed a “politics of hate” allegedly practised “assiduously” by the governments under BJP’s control.
In an open letter, they had said, “we are witnessing a frenzy of hate-filled destruction in the country where at the sacrificial altar are not just Muslims and members of the other minority communities but the Constitution itself”.
The ‘Concerned Citizens’ organization warned the former federal officials against “orchestrating a false narrative of colorable use of state power” in a counter-letter.
The other group’s true goal, it claims, is to create a counter-narrative to the “premeditated attacks on peaceful processions during Hindu festivals, whether in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, or New Delhi.”
The group was accused of having “double standards,” making an issue out of “non-issues,” and having “distorted thinking,” according to the report.
It also alleged that the recent controversies relating to hijab and halal certification among others were the work of “vested interests” that wanted to keep alive the narrative of “Muslim persecution” and “Hindu majoritarianism and Hindu nationalism” under the BJP.
“Such a narrative gets recognition and encouragement from international lobbies that want to halt India’s progress,” it claimed.
“The so-called intellectuals, the same set of retired civil servants and their backend international lobbies seek to capitalise on this narrative to create political and social fissures in India and weaken the country from within on the pretext that they are serving some higher constitutional cause when they are serving their own egos,” it said.
The group advised the CCG to free itself from its “personal biases and propose viable solutions”, and asked it to not “spread fear and falsehoods, seeking to fan the flames of religion-based separatism and even Balkanisation”.
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