Move To Politicise The Bureacracy: BJP Creates WhatsApp Group With DGP Office

Recently, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had 'proudly' claimed that the 'law and order situation' in the state has been the best the state has seen in the last 15 years. On the other hand, on Wednesday, his party spokespersons met Director General Of Police (DGP) O.P. Singh and ADG (Law and Order) Anand Kumar on how to counter the questions raised over the increasing crimes in news channel debates. 

Since the Unnao gang rape and murder case involving the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, the party had faced backlash across the country. It had become difficult even for the UP police to defend the BJP members. Spokespersons had also gotten in big trouble over their response to the issue and were widely criticized on several debates on television.

Interestingly, during the two hour meeting, the core discussion was decided to create a 'WhatsApp group of top officials and BJP spokespersons' which will keep the spokespersons updated on 'how to give answers' on TV debates and prepare them before going to news channels. Following this decision, a WhatsApp group was created once the meeting was over. 

The DGP Headquarter's Personal Relation Officer (PRO), Rahul Srivastava has been chosen as the nodal officer. All information will be shared in the group in case of any major crime incident anywhere in the state. This information will be provided from the DGP office so that the BJP spokespersons can prepare before going for any debate on the television channels.

Further, it was also suggested by party leaders that the anti-Romeo squads should be strengthened and should be active on the ground. It has also been suggested that new women police officers should be employed in this work. 

Now, the question that arises is how the police is to be made answerable for any political party. An even bigger question is how can the police share their data about crimes with any political party. If an incident/crime occurs then the accountability lies with the government to maintain law and order. 

When Newsclick approached BJP state spokesperson Shalabh Mani Tripathi, he clearly denied that any spokesperson had met the DGP. "There was no meeting as such. Ninety per cent of the people were outside, not in Lucknow, so who will go."

When questioned that some mainstream online media have been running this story, Tripathi countered by saying, "Let them run, what to do. I told you nobody went to meet the DGP or anyone regarding this issue."

Speaking with Newsclick, the Samajwadi Party national spokesperson, Abdul Hafiz Gandhi said, "Asking the DGP to provide information on law and order on daily basis to BJP spokespersons by forming a WhatsApp group is another attempt by the BJP to politicise the bureaucracy. Bureaucracy is a neutral entity. It’s not accountable to the BJP or its spokespersons under the Constitutional scheme of things. BJP spokespersons are fearful of facing media attacks because of the deteriorating law and order situation.” 

A journalist, who had covered this story told Newsclick on condition of anonymity, “Every spokesperson or media panelist of BJP who go on air on television debates over different issues, had met the DGP and attended the meeting. Soon after meeting ended, a WhatsApp group was created with the help of DGP PRO and given the name 'DGP INFORMATION'.” But as he covered this story, the group was renamed as 'INFORMATION'.

He further added that in this WhatsApp group, information regarding law and order was sent to the group members; press releases and bytes of police officials were also shared in the group but soon after the news spread, nine people have been removed from the group including Shalabh Mani Tripathi.