The letter by the former officials also cited multiple instances of minorities being targeted, including a horrific case from UP’s Moradabad earlier this month.
A letter signed by 104 former IAS officers, including former National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon, former Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and former Adviser to the Prime Minister TKA Nair, and released Tuesday, said the Uttar Pradesh government’s controversial anti-conversion ordinance has transformed the state into “the epicentre of politics of hate, division and bigotry”.
The “illegal ordinance be withdrawn forthwith”, the signatories demanded and said all politicians, including the Chief Minister, need to “re-educate yourselves about the Constitution which you… have sworn to uphold”.
“… UP, once known as the cradle of the Ganga-Jamuna civilisation, has become the epicentre of the politics of hate, division and bigotry, and institutions of governance are now steeped in communal poison,” the letter read.
“… a series of heinous atrocities committed by your administration against young Indians across Uttar Pradesh… Indians who are simply seeking to live their lives as free citizens of a free country.”
The letter by the former officials also cited multiple instances of minorities being targeted, including a horrific case from UP’s Moradabad earlier this month – in which two men were allegedly accosted by the Bajrang Dal, dragged to the police and arrested on allegations that one of them had forced a Hindu girl to marry him.
“What is inexcusable is the police remained mute as vigilantes harassed and interrogated the innocent couple. (The woman) suffered a miscarriage, possibly as a result of harassment,” the letter further read.
“These atrocities regardless of indignation of Indians devoted to rule of law, continue unabated. The anti-conversion ordinance… is being used as a stick to victimise especially those Indian men who are Muslim and women who dare to exercise their freedom of choice,” the signatories said.
“…various High Courts, including the Allahabad High Court, have ruled unequivocally that choosing one’s life partner is a fundamental right guaranteed under the Constitution, the state of UP is blithely undermining that very Constitution,” the further said.
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