An open letter to Prime Minister by Former Judges, Public

Servants and Armed Forces Officers

Agenda driven biased politicised statements not acceptable

We, as Concerned Citizens, do not believe that one more open letter to the Prime
Minister by a self-styled Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG) calling for end to
the politics of hate has sincere motivations.

It is a repeated effort to draw attention to themselves as citizens with a higher

sense of social purpose, whereas the reality is that this is a manifest political
anti-Modi Government exercise which this group undertakes periodically in the
belief that they can shape public opinion against the ruling dispensation.

This is way for them to release their frustration that public opinion remains
solidly behind Prime Minister Modi as recent state elections have shown.

Their “anger and anguish” is not only empty virtue-signaling, they are actually
fueling the politics of hate that they seek to combat by attempting to engineer
hate against the present government with their patent prejudices and false
portrayals. That these open letters repeat the same language, have the same
tenor and use biased terms with clear ideological moorings speaks for itself.
Strangely, one often notices a striking similarity between the phraseology of the
CCG missives and utterances in the western media or by western agencies.

The studied silence of this so-called CCG on unprecedented post-poll violence

in West Bengal - which was so serious that the Kolkata High Court had to
mandate the National Human Rights Commission to carry out an independent
investigation, which resulted in a report strongly critical of the West Bengal
government and the Trinamool Congress - lays bare their cynical and
unprincipled approach to issues. The same attitude shapes their reactions (or
rather the lack of any reaction) to the multiple violent incidents in various states
ruled by different political parties (premeditated attacks on peaceful
processions during Ram Navami, Hanuman Jayanti, and other sacred festivals
in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and New Delhi), and targeted violation
of human rights adversely affecting the livelihoods of the poor irrespective of
their religion. Such studied omissions expose their attachment to
“constitutionnel conduct”. The reality is that instances of major communal
violence have palpably decreased under the BJP government and this is
appreciated by the public. This has instigated groups like the CCG to highlight
beyond proportion sporadic instances of communal violence that no society can
entirely eradicate. It is worth recalling what has happened even most recently
in Europe (Sweden) despite not having unfortunate historical legacies that
India has.

The double standards in assessing a situation, deliberate attempts to make an

issue out of non-issues, distorted thinking on the challenges faced by the
country, resort to bloated vocabulary to grab international attention, motivated
tirades against the democratically elected governments, is a malaise of our
society that the CCG reflects in its open letters. The CCG should not give
ideological cover to an anti-national outlook as well as religious and left-wing
extremism, which they seem to do.

These former civil servants should not be orchestrating a false narrative of

“colorable use of state power”. Their real intention is to foster a counter
narrative against the premeditated attacks on peaceful processions during
Hindu festivals, be it in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat or New Delhi.

The dramatic emergence of controversies relating to hijab (long established,

and till now non-controversial as uniforms prescribed for students in
educational institutions), halal certification etc. is the work of vested interests
within the country wanting to keep the narrative alive of minority persecution,
majoritarianism and Hindu nationalism under the present government. Such a
narrative gets recognition and encouragement from international lobbies that
want to halt India's progress.
The so-called intellectuals, the same set of retired civil servants and their back-
end international lobbies seek to capitalize on this narrative to create political

and social fissures in India and weaken the country from within on the pretext
that they are serving some higher constitutional cause, when they are serving
their own egos.

Some of the problems that now agitate them are endemic in our country that
has seen partition, jihadi terrorism and a warped interpretation of secularism.
These retired civil servants should do some introspection about their own
failure to address these ills they seek to combat now while in office. Wisdom
seems to have dawned only after they have no responsibility or accountability.

Constructive criticism is an essential feature of democracy provided such

criticism is not selective. If the CCG is genuinely concerned about the people
and the nation its members should free themselves from their personal biases
and propose viable solutions rather than spread fear and falsehoods, seeking to
fan the flames of religion based separatism and even balkanization.

We, the Concerned Citizens, condemn the sordid manipulations of the vested
interests and urge all right-thinking citizens to expose them to preserve the
unity and integrity of our great nation.

Coordinators

Ms Bhaswati Mukherjee Lt Gen Arun Sahni

Former Ambassador Mob-7568766661
Mob-8130104016

----------------List of Signatories attached-----------------