In Bihar, there is a storm of civil servants who are all ready to jump into politics. Former DGP Gupteshwar Pandey’s case of joining JD(U) recently is nothing new. Recall the Bhagalpur eye-tearing scandal of 1980. In this case, more than 30 criminals had suffered an eye tearing incident by adding acid. Bhagalpur SP Vishnu Dayal Ram was the accused and a CBI investigation took place. But no action was taken against him due to lack of evidence. It is well known that Prakash Jha made his film Gangajal in the year 2003 based on this incident. The same Vishnu Dayal Ram, a 1973-batch IPS officer, former DGP Jharkhand, is now MP from Palamu in Jharkhand twice. Another former DG of the Police Building Construction Corporation, Sunil Kumar, a 1987-batch IPS officer has joined JD (U).
His brother Anil Kumar, who hails from Gopalganj, is a Congress Party MLA. Another former DGP of Jharkhand DK Pandey, a 1984-batch officer, joined BJP in October 2019, fought an assembly election and lost. Interestingly, IPS officer Yumnam Jaikumar Singh, a 1976-batch was DGP of Manipur from 2007 to 2012. He acquired the Deputy Chief Minister’s chair in N. Viren Singh’s government after winning elections from Uripok seat in 2017. Not only IPS officers but senior IAS officers are also very active in Bihar. Former Home Secretary RK Singh, a 1975-batch IAS officer of the Bihar cadre, joined the BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. He contested from Ara and again won in 2019 and is now a powerful minister in the Union Cabinet. Former Secretary Petroleum and Steel, RS Pandey, a 1972-batch IAS officer of the Nagaland cadre is a BJP MLA from Bagaha. He was more eager to enter the Lok Sabha but the BJP did not give him a ticket. Another IAS officer KP Ramaiya contested from the Sasaram Lok Sabha seat on a JD(U) ticket in 2014 but lost. In a democratic country everybody has a right to contest but the question is, are these former civil servants able to bring a smile on the face of poor? G
