UP official in soup over posts on PM Modi

Lucknow: If his post on communal violence in Kasganj that questions the “disturbing trend” of entering Muslim localities and raising slogans was not enough, an IAS officer, posted as Bareilly district magistrate, R. Vikkram Singh has posted objectionable posts regarding the Prime Minister and even the controversial film Padmaavat.

These posts were deleted on Tuesday, along with his earlier posts on the Kasganj riots that went viral and kicked up a major controversy.

Deputy chief minister Keshav Maurya said on Tuesday that the government had taken note of the posts by the district magistrate. ”Action will certainly not be taken against him. Officials will not be allowed to behave like agents of political parties,” he said.

A senior official in the chief minister’s secretariat said that the government was apprised of the matter and action, if needed, would be taken by the chief minister.

After the controversy broke out, district magistrate posted, “Jee suna hai ki…wo chai ki piyali mein koi toofan aaya hua hai.”

His earlier deleted posts spoke about “Chaiwala” — an obvious reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. His next one said, “Nahin Padmaavat nahin dekhenge … kahin pasand na aa jaye”.

Asked about his post on “Chaiwala”, Mr Singh said that it was being read in the wrong context and his intentions were being misconstrued.

He said that his views on his Facebook wall were personal and should not be seen in view of his professional duties.

“I am hurt and angry at what is happening in the name of nationalism. I have the right to express my view on a platform that is not linked to my official duties. I also criticised the hue and cry over ‘Padmaavat’ even though I am a Rajput too,” he said.

Earlier, in one of his deleted posts, the officer had written, “Ajab rivaz ban gaya hai. Muslim mohallon mein  zabardasti juloos le jao aur Pakistan murdabad ke nare lagao. Kyon bhai, ye Pakistani hain kya? Yehi yahan Bareilly mein Khailam mein hua tha. Fir patharav hua, mukadme likhe gaye… (A very strange trend has started of late. Take out processions by force through Muslim dominated localities and raise anti-Pakistan slogans. Why? Are these people Pakistani? The same thing had happened in Khailam village of Bareilly. Then stones were pelted, FIRs lodged).”