Alleging discrimination by the BJP government, additional chief secretary and Rajasthan Roadways Development Corporation chairman Umrao Salodia not only quit the service but also converted to Islam. Salodia has applied for VRS and given three months’ notice asking to be relieved by March 31, 2016. He was to retire on June 30, 2016.
The 1978 batch IAS officer was unhappy about the way the BJP government chose to deny him the chief secretary’s post. Going by seniority, Mr Salodia would have been the senior-most IAS officer in the race had incumbent C.S. Rajan, a favourite of chief minister Vasundhara Raje, not been given an extension to continue for the next three months at the end of his tenure, which would have ended today.
Salodia said he was exercising his right under Article 25 (1) of the Constitution to adopt Islam as being a dalit he faced discrimination and atrocities in Hindu society.
“I am not made chief secretary because I am a dalit. There is no such discrimination in Islam,” he said at a press conference on Thursday.
“I am impressed by Islam which does not discriminate on the basis of caste. From now on I will be known as Umrao Khan,” he said.
The IAS officer has also written to the CM describing the government’s decision to deny him the chief secretaryship as unprecedented while asking her to accept his VRS application.
“I belong to a Scheduled Caste and by virtue of being the senior-most officer I should have been made chief secretary. However, I was denied this opportunity because of the three-month extension to present chief secretary C.S. Rajan till 31 March 2016. This happened at the behest of the state government therefore I am applying for VRS,” he wrote.
Knowing the political sensitiveness of the issue, senior ministers Gulab Chand Kataria and Rajendra Singh Rathore quickly disapproved of Mr Salodia’s outburst.
State home minister Kataria said everyone was free to follow any religion. There was no restriction, but the reason cited by him (Salodia) was wrong. It doesn’t behoove a learned person like him while Mr Rathore, who holds the health department, condemned Mr Salodia’s allegation, claiming that the present chief secretary, C.S. Rajan, was given a service extension as per the rules.
However, it is learnt that Mr Salodia was never a favourite for the highest office of the state bureaucracy because of an ongoing anti corruption bureau case against him. The CM was also not inclined to make any officer as the chief secretary has only a few months to retire. But Mr Salodia alleged that retired officer Nanagram filed complaints to the Lokayukta only to harass him.
