An IAS officer publicly made rabid, casteist remarks which even politicians don’t dare to utter in a caste-conscious State like Bihar. Raj Kumar, a Bihar cadre IAS of 2010 batch, is District Magistrate of Sheohar and declared that nothing was more important than caste.
Raj Kumar, who belongs to extremely backward caste Kanu, not only attended a meeting of his caste men in his neighbouring district of Sitamarhi but also addressed it. He exhorted his caste people, “Even if you do not like a contender in the election who belongs to the same caste as you, bury all differences and vote for him/her. It is highly unfortunate that our representation in the Assembly and other local bodies is far less than our population. It is a sorry State that in the 243 member Assembly there are only three MlAs from Kanu caste.”
The Sheohar DM, who hails from Saran district, also called for creating a corpus for the students of his caste for their financial help to go for higher education. The programme had been organised by an extremely backward caste grouping at Ganinath Temple in Sitamarhi on Saturday. “This temple belongs to our community and I went there to pay my obeisance,” he said.
The brazen behaviour of an IAS officer stunned the Government and political class. Chief Secretary Anjani Kumar Singh has ordered detailed investigation into the matter and sought the audio and video recording of Rajkumar’s speech. Action, he said, could be initiated against the officer on the basis of the investigation.
Raj Kumar did not deny attending and addressing the function but pleaded that he went there in his “personal capacity” and not as DM and asserted that he had been quoted in the media “out of context.” In the bureaucratic circle his utterances are seen as grave violation of the code of conduct and service rules even if he spoke in his personal capacity. “A civil servant is not supposed to involve himself in caste politics. It is against the ethics of a civil servant,” said former Bihar and Jharkhand Chief Secretary V S Dubey. The IAS Officers Association also expressed surprise over Raj Kumar’s participation in such a function.
The leaders of ruling JD(U) and opposition BJP demanded action against Raj Kumar alleging he was indulging in casteism. JD(U) spokesman Neeraj Kumar said it was highly objectionable and the Government should take cognizance of his utterances.