Avay Shukla: A LETTER THAT DIMINISHES THE INDIAN FOREIGN SERVICE
If you're wondering how deep the rot has set into our society, and how autonomous the radicalisation of even the educated sections has become, you have to look no further than the open letter written by 32 assorted retired IFS officers on the 5th of this month in response to an appeal by more than 100 veterans (including five retired service Chiefs) to the President and Prime Minister. This latter missive was an appeal for action to stop the kind of genocidal speeches made at the Haridwar Dharm Sansad on the 19th of December, 2021. Incidentally, similar appeals have been made by other eminent citizens, including the alumni and students of at least two IITs, a group of Supreme Court lawyers to the Chief Justice, and at least two retired judges of the Supreme Court itself.
Let's call the former lot of IFS blokes the G-32, since they have made their political affiliations quite clear now and it's not too difficult to surmise who could have prompted them to take umbrage at this appeal and to perform this most undiplomatic genuflection to the great anarch. What did surprise me, however, is the petty cliches and vitriol in their language, the calumny and contempt, for if there's one art diplomats are known for it is the turn of phrase, the ability to pick the mot juste.
But when veterans and retired chiefs are branded as "a group of activists" and as "known leftists with sympathies for Maoists", and when their action is ascribed to "frustration at not having...recognition and award after superannuation" and is described as an " investment in a potential political change at the centre", you know the IFS has lost its marbles and is in dire need of a serious revamp and what the Chinese would euphemistically term "re-education." But not this lot, because they already appear to have been re-educated by the BJP's IT Cell and Arnab Goswami. For it takes an extraordinary degree of cognitive dissonance to accuse people of the caliber of Lt. Gen. Vijay Oberoi, Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat, Admiral Arun Prakash and Major General S.G. Vombatkere of lack of morality and dubious motives.
I am at a total loss to comprehend what part of the veterans' letter could have offended the G-32 to make them discard their gin and tonic and canasta and take up cudgels against reason and sanity. For this letter nowhere blames the govt. for the Haridwar incitements, it instead expresses dismay at the govt's inaction and " urges leaders of ALL ( emphasis mine) political parties to condemn these calls for what is tantamount to genocide of Muslims."
Something, by the way, which even the Supreme Court appears to have agreed with because it has taken notice of a petition by Anjana Prakash, Senior Advocate and retired judge of the Patna High Court, and issued notice to the Center and the Uttarakhand govt. The G-32 also appears to have ignored the fact that the veterans have addressed their letter to not only the govt. but also to the CJI, the service chiefs and leaders of all major political parties. It is not intended " to bring odium to the Modi govt." as our former Ambassadors seem to presume but is a call for it ( and all other stake holders of our democracy ) to act before it is too late….
http://avayshukla.blogspot.com/2022/01/a-letter-that-diminishes-indian-foreign.html?m=1
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