Ahead of counting, Kharge urges bureaucrats to 'adhere to Constitution'

Ahead of counting, Kharge urges bureaucrats to 'adhere to Constitution'

Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections results, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge sent an open letter to the nation's bureaucracy on Monday, urging officials to adhere to the Constitution and serve the nation without fear, favour and ill-will against anybody.

"Do not get intimidated by anyone. Do not bow down to any Unconstitutional means. Do not be afraid of anyone and discharge your duties, based on merit, on this counting day", wrote Kharge in a letter to all civil servants and officers.

"We owe it to future generations, a vibrant Democracy and a long-lasting Constitution, as penned by the makers of modern India", said the Congress chief.

Writing in his capacity of the Leader of the Opposition (Rajya Sabha) and as the president of the Indian National Congress, Mallikarjun Kharge claimed that "the last decade has witnessed a systemic pattern to assault, undermine and suppress our autonomous institutions by the ruling party"

“India’s Democratic ethos are being consequently damaged. There is a widespread tendency to turn India into a regimental dictatorship. We are increasingly seeing some institutions shedding their independence and brazenly following the diktats of the ruling party. Some have completely adopted their style of communication, their way of functioning, and in some cases even their political rhetoric. It is not their fault. With brute power, threat, coercive mechanisms and misuse of agencies, this tendency to bow to the powers that have become a way for their short-term survival. Even though, in this denigration, India’s Constitution and Democracy have become a casualty,” he said.

But it is not their fault, he said. "With brute power, threat, coercive mechanisms and misuse of agencies, this tendency to bow to the powers that have become a way for their short-term survival. Even though, in this denigration, India's Constitution and Democracy have become a casualty."

He added that people want Indian bureaucracy to once again be the "Steel frame of India," as Sardar Patel had envisioned, and that the "will of the people" is fundamental.

Congress chief expressed his gratitude to the Central Armed Forces, state police forces, volunteers, district collectors, civil workers, state electoral commission, and the entire bureaucracy for their seamless coordination of the massive and historic general elections.

"In this hope that India remains truly Democratic in nature, I extend good wishes to each one of you, and expect that our eternal ideals of the Constitution remain untarnished," the leader of the Congress stated.

Both the ruling NDA and the opposition INDIA alliance have declared victory in the crucial 2024 Lok Sabha elections, which are scheduled to take place on Tuesday.