Why IAS officer Umashankar, the evangelist, cannot remain in service

The latest episode of the theatre of absurd stars an IAS officer cum evangelist cum faith healer cum whatever from Tamil Nadu. Now the conventional wisdom about IAS is that it consists of the brightest of India, seeking to serve in our country's professional bureaucracy. This person puts paid to the myth that it's indeed the brightest that enter the service. Because his actions and words not just challenge that myth, it also raises questions about the need to examine the mental faculties of those that enter the service.

This IAS officer was on television and has gone on record to admit that he preaches the Bible, advocates his religion actively, talks about very relevant and real issues like going to hell and heaven, all while still being an IAS officer. This would be a joke if it was not so completely wrong.

Why wrong? A TV anchor tried raising issues of propriety and appropriateness with the said preacher cum IAS officer. There was even a reference to that document called the Constitution. There was a flurry of responses from the said gentleman that all relied on a religious book as the justification for all the questions posed. Now there are other loonies around in the country and in the world who do the same and so a case can be made that the said gentlemen isn't either alone in that department or the first.

But here's the difference, the loonies that quote the religious books to justify all sorts of wrongs are not part of the government as this man is. He is not just being paid by the taxpayers. His training was paid for by the state. His boarding, transportation and costs are burdens on the hardworking taxpayers of the country. The entire experience of watching an IAS officer brandish a religious book to justify his moonlighting as a preacher in the face of everything include service rules, would have made every viewer cringe.

Secularism as a phrase has been used for several decades now to cover up and sweep under the carpet some of the worst types of behaviour by many people in this country. That this narrative has been allowed to go unchallenged is why it is now creeping into previously impervious institutions like IAS. Imagine tomorrow if officers or personnel of police or paramilitary forces or Army start ignoring professional orders and use their religious books as justification. Imagine if judges do this. Yes they do this, in religion driven nations like Pakistan or Saudi Arabia or The Vatican. Not in India. The brazen disregard of every professional code of conduct that is central to the functioning of an all India service officer is unacceptable in India and must be dealt with accordingly and not be made into yet another debate on secularism.

So here's a message to Umashankar - The country and the Constitution guarantee you your right to preach and practise your religion. There's no ban on that. But to expect to enjoy the perks and loaves of power, paid for by the taxpayers, is not tenable. Secularism is central to our Constitution and so is the expectation of professional conduct as a service officer. Religion cannot and should not be allowed to justify unprofessional conduct as a government officer. So do your preacher thing - but do it and leave the service.

Jokes aside, this preacher cum IAS officer brings the spotlight back on the rot in the IAS and other all India services. The reality is that the all India services like IAS has long since ceased to be the destination for public service minded professionals. Politicisation and now this kind of brazen sectarian approach in the name of secularism have corroded the credibility of this once proud all India service. To be fair, there are still many still that epitomise the ideals of service and professionalism that IAS represents - but it's people like Umashankar who serve to further tarnish the already diminishing shine of the IAS. Sooner he is ejected the better.