Charm of political power draws well-heeled civil servants

Deepender Deswal

The charm of political power seems to be the main reason that career bureaucrats have been attracted towards politics. In 2014, Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Yudhbir Singh Khyalia, then serving as Divisional Commissioner, resigned to fight the Lok Sabha elections from the Hisar constituency on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ticket. This time, another IAS officer Brijendra Singh, son of Union Steel Minister Choudhary Birender Singh, has took the plunge; the BJP has fielded him from the Hisar parliamentary seat. The BJP has also fielded former Indian Revenue Services (IRS) officer Sunita Duggal from the neighbouring Sirsa parliamentary seat.

Though politicians and bureaucrats work closely to run the government, politics has always attracted civil servants. However, rustic politics has proved to be a tough call for well-heeled bureaucrats. The voters in Haryana are extremely demanding and always want their representatives to be easily accessible.

Many bureaucrats from the IAS, HCS, IRS and IPS cadres took up politics but with limited success in the elections. Besides Brijendra, Khyalia and Duggal, other civil servants who became politicians were IAS officers Kirpa Ram Punia, ID Swami and Rao Abhay Singh, and HCS officer Bahadur Singh. IPS officers, who joined politics, were former Director Generals of Police (DGP) Ajit Singh Bhatotia, Vikash Narain Rai, HR Swan and Mahender Singh Malik, and former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Ranbir Sharma.

While IAS officers have tasted limited success in politics, police offiers-turned-politicians have had disastrous results as none of them could win elections.

Brijendra Singh (46) shares the political legacy his father and Union Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh and great grandfather Sir Chhotu Ram, a legendary farmer leader of pre-Independence era. Sir Chhotu Ram had two daughters Bhagwani Devi, mother of Birender Singh, and Basanti Devi, who was elected MLA from the Hasangarh Assembly seat in Rohtak in 1982.

Brijendra is an alumnus of St Stephen’s College and Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi and a 1998-batch IAS officer (he got the ninth rank in the civil services exams). He is set to make a debut in politics after about 21-year service as an administrator. He had been Deputy Commissioners of Panchkula, Faridabad and Chandigarh, besides holding other prominent posts. 

The BJP has also fielded Sunita Duggal, a former IRS officer, from the neighbouring Sirsa Lok Sabha seat. She joined the Central Government services in 1990 and was promoted to the IRS cadre. She resigned from the IRS in 2014 as she was expecting the BJP ticket from the Sirsa Lok Sabha seat. However, the BJP gave the Sirsa seat to its alliance partner Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC). Sunita later contested the Assembly elections from the Ratia seat in Fatehabad district on the BJP ticket but was defeated.

Khyaliya, who contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from the Hisar seat as AAP candidate, had also taken voluntary retirement in a hurry when he was offered the ticket. However, he lost the elections miserably. He was born at Jhanwari in Bhiwani district,

Another IAS officer Kirpa Ram Punia, however, had a successful stint as a legislature and a minister in Haryana. He was a close associate of former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal, who had introduced him into politics, and emerged as the Dalit face of Haryana politics. He served as a Cabinet minister in the government of Devi Lal during 1987-89. Later, he joined the Rashtriya Janhit Party, Congress and the BSP before recently joining the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) floated by Devi Lal’s great grandson Dushyant Chautala.

Two-time Karnal MP and former Union minister ID Swami had joined the BJP after retirement. He contested the Lok Sabha elections four times but won only twice. He was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1996 when he defeated Congress candidate Chiranji Lal Sharma and again in 1999 when he defeated former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal from the Karnal constituency. He lost the Lok Sabha elections twice in 1998 and 2004.

Rao Abhay Singh, another retired IAS officer, is at present the BJP legislator from the Nangal Choudhary Assembly constituency in Mahendragarh district. He had also taken voluntary retirement from the IAS to join politics in 2015 when the BJP gave him the ticket.

However, IPS officers have not been that lucky on the electoral battleground. HR Swan, a former DGP, had unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha elections from the Sirsa constituency on the BJP ticket in 1996 and 1998. He had joined the BJP in 1996 and resigned from the party in 2004.

Mahender Singh Malik, another retired DGP, is active in politics and is a prominent member of the INLD. His wife Krishna Malik had contested the Lok Sabha elections on the INLD ticket from the Sonepat seat in 2004 even before he had retired. Ajit Singh Bhatotia, yet another IPS officer who had served as the state police chief, became an active member of the BJP after retirement in 2005 but later joined the Congress. In 2014, Bhatotia, a native of Dungarwas village in Rewari district, joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). 

Vikash Narain Rai, who had also served as DGP, and Ranbir Sharma, former IGP, too had joined AAP in 2014. Sharma has floated the Rashtriya Lokswaraj Party (RLP) and announced six candidates for the Lok Sabha elections.

Pawan Kumar Bansal, a political commentator, says that bureaucrats watch politicians in power from close quarters and hence are tempted to join politics to make a fortune.  “IAS and IPS officers remain in touch with people while in active service and so think this will benefit them in elections. However, they are far removed from the ground reality of politics,” he adds.