21 October 2020
We are a group of former civil servants of the All India and Central Services, who have worked for decades with Central and State Governments in the course of our careers. As a group, we have no affiliation with any political party but believe in the credo of impartiality, neutrality and commitment to the Indian Constitution. We continue to uphold the oath of allegiance to our Constitution we took when we entered service.
We are deeply disturbed to note the malicious campaign of calumny against soldiers of the Muslim faith in the armed forces of India which has caused distinguished Veterans of our armed forces to petition the Hon’ble President of India, who is also the Supreme Commander of our armed forces, seeking redress. The contents of the letter have been widely publicized and a sample is noted below:
(https://thewire.in/communalism/muslim-regiment-armed-forces-veterans-open-letter-president)
The letter from the Veterans points out that there was no such Muslim regiment in the first place. It forcefully establishes that the charges of dereliction of duty or disloyalty laid against Muslim troops in false social media posts, which have been named, have no basis whatsoever. We support the requests of the Veterans, namely: 1. Investigate the antecedents of individuals who have made ‘Muslim Regiment’ post. 2. Identify & charge individuals who have made the post, for anti-national activities. 3. Issue warning to Facebook & Twitter who have enabled these posts. 4. Issue instructions to all state governments that generation of such false & seditious messages in social media should be acted upon with alacrity.
While assaults against the dignity of our Muslim citizens, as indeed physical assaults, are becoming commonplace, this particular theme which casts doubts on the loyalty of Muslim soldiers has wider implications which could have serious repercussions on our security and on fields of battle. At a time, particularly, when India is facing grave external threats, attempts to divide the armed forces could well be termed acts of treason.
We, the undersigned, would therefore urge that our armed forces as also the Government of India take cognizance of these fake news and issue suitable statements to negate the efforts to sully the image of our forces and our country. As the Veterans have significantly pointed out, “the public assumes that it is the truth, especially when there is no official action against the perpetrators.”
We further demand that appropriate investigative agencies be urgently tasked to thoroughly investigate and determine whether elements that have been pursuing a hate cum polarising agenda in the country are deliberately propagating this fake news with a view to causing divisions in our armed forces, weakening our national resolve and security.
SATYAMEVA JAYATE
(91 signatories, as below)
| Salahuddin Ahmad | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Rajasthan | |
| Shafi Alam | IPS (Retd.) | Former Director General, National Crime Records Bureau, GoI | |
| S.P. Ambrose | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Secretary, Ministry of Shipping & Transport, GoI | |
| Anand Arni | R&AW (Retd.) | Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI | |
| Gopalan Balagopal | IAS (Retd.) | Former Special Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal | |
| Chandrashekhar Balakrishnan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Coal, GoI | |
| T.K. Banerji | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, Union Public Service Commission | |
| Sharad Behar | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh | |
| Aurobindo Behera | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Odisha | |
| Pradip Bhattacharya | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Development & Planning and Administrative Training Institute, Govt. of West Bengal | |
| Sundar Burra | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra | |
| Rachel Chatterjee | IAS (Retd.) | Former Special Chief Secretary, Agriculture, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh | |
| Kalyani Chaudhuri | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal | |
| Anna Dani | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra | |
| Vibha Puri Das | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, GoI | |
| P.R. Dasgupta | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairman, Food Corporation of India, GoI | |
| Nareshwar Dayal | IFS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs and former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom | |
| Pradeep K. Deb | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Deptt. Of Sports, GoI | |
| Nitin Desai | IES (Retd.) | Former Secretary and Chief Economic Adviser, Ministry of Finance, GoI | |
| Keshav Desiraju | IAS (Retd.) | Former Health Secretary, GoI | |
| M.G. Devasahayam | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Govt. of Haryana | |
| Sushil Dubey | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Sweden | |
| A.S. Dulat | IPS (Retd.) | Former OSD on Kashmir, Prime Minister’s Office, GoI | |
| Prabhu Ghate | IAS (Retd.) | Former Addl. Director General, Department of Tourism, GoI | |
| Gourisankar Ghosh | IAS (Retd.) | Former Mission Director, National Drinking Water Mission, GoI | |
| Suresh K. Goel | IFS (Retd.) | Former Director General, Indian Council of Cultural Relations, GoI | |
| S. Gopal | IPS (Retd.) | Former Special Secretary, GoI | |
| S.K. Guha | IAS (Retd.) | Former Joint Secretary, Department of Women & Child Development, GoI | |
| H.S. Gujral | IFoS (Retd.) | Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Govt. of Punjab | |
| Meena Gupta | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forests, GoI | |
| Ravi Vira Gupta | IAS (Retd.) | Former Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India | |
| Siraj Hussain | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Department of Agriculture, GoI | |
| Kamal Jaswal | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Department of Information Technology, GoI | |
| Najeeb Jung | IAS (Retd.) | Former Lieutenant Governor, Delhi | |
| Rahul Khullar | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairman, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India | |
| K. John Koshy | IAS (Retd.) | Former State Chief Information Commissioner, West Bengal | |
| Ajai Kumar | IFoS(Retd.) | Former Director, Ministry of Agriculture, GoI | |
| Brijesh Kumar | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Department of Information Technology, GoI | |
| P.K. Lahiri | IAS (Retd.) | Former Executive Director, Asian Development Bank | |
| Aloke B. Lal | IPS (Retd.) | Former Director General (Prosecution), Govt. of Uttarakhand | |
| Subodh Lal | IPoS (Resigned) | Former Deputy Director General, Ministry of Communications, GoI | |
| B.B. Mahajan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Deptt. of Food, GoI | |
| Harsh Mander | IAS (Retd.) | Govt. of Madhya Pradesh | |
| Amitabh Mathur | IPS (Retd.) | Former Director, Aviation Research Centre and Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI | |
| Lalit Mathur | IAS (Retd.) | Former Director General, National Institute of Rural Development, GoI | |
| Aditi Mehta | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Rajasthan | |
| Sonalini Mirchandani | IFS (Resigned) | GoI | |
| Noor Mohammad | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, National Disaster Management Authority, Govt. of India | |
| Avinash Mohananey | IPS (Retd.) | Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Sikkim | |
| Deb Mukharji | IFS (Retd.) | Former High Commissioner to Bangladesh and former Ambassador to Nepal | |
| Shiv Shankar Mukherjee | IFS (Retd.) | Former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom | |
| Pranab S. Mukhopadhyay | IAS (Retd.) | Former Director, Institute of Port Management, GoI | |
| Nagalsamy | IA&AS (Retd.) | Former Principal Accountant General, Tamil Nadu & Kerala | |
| P.G.J. Nampoothiri | IPS (Retd.) | Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Gujarat | |
| P. Joy Oommen | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Chhattisgarh | |
| Amitabha Pande | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Inter-State Council, GoI | |
| Mira Pande | IAS (Retd.) | Former State Election Commissioner, West Bengal | |
| Alok Perti | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Coal, GoI | |
| R. Poornalingam | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, GoI | |
| N.K. Raghupathy | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairman, Staff Selection Commission, GoI | |
| V.P. Raja | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairman, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission | |
| K. Sujatha Rao | IAS (Retd.) | Former Health Secretary, GoI | |
| Satwant Reddy | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Chemicals and Petrochemicals, GoI | |
| Vijaya Latha Reddy | IFS (Retd.) | Former Deputy National Security Adviser, GoI | |
| Julio Ribeiro | IPS (Retd.) | Former Adviser to Governor of Punjab & former Ambassador to Romania | |
| Aruna Roy | IAS (Resigned) | ||
| A.K. Samanta | IPS (Retd.) | Former Director General of Police (Intelligence), Govt. of West Bengal | |
| Deepak Sanan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Principal Adviser (AR) to Chief Minister, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh | |
| G. Sankaran | IC&CES (Retd.) | Former President, Customs, Excise and Gold (Control) Appellate Tribunal | |
| Shyam Saran | IFS (Retd.) | Former Foreign Secretary and Former Chairman, National Security Advisory Board | |
| S. Satyabhama | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairperson, National Seeds Corporation, GoI | |
| N.C. Saxena | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Planning Commission, GoI | |
| Ardhendu Sen | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal | |
| Abhijit Sengupta | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Culture, GoI | |
| Aftab Seth | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Japan | |
| Ajay Shankar | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Deptt. of Industrial Policy & Promotion | |
| Ashok Kumar Sharma | IFoS (Retd.) | Former MD, State Forest Development Corporation, Govt. of Gujarat | |
| Ashok Kumar Sharma | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Finland and Estonia | |
| Navrekha Sharma | IFS (Retd.) | Former Ambassador to Indonesia | |
| Pravesh Sharma | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh | |
| Raju Sharma | IAS (Retd.) | Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh | |
| Rashmi Shukla Sharma | IAS (Retd.) | Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh | |
| Sujatha Singh | IFS (Retd.) | Former Foreign Secretary, GoI | |
| Tirlochan Singh | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, National Commission for Minorities, GoI | |
| Jawhar Sircar | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Culture, GoI, & former CEO, Prasar Bharati | |
| Narendra Sisodia | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary, Ministry of Finance, GoI | |
| P.S.S. Thomas | IAS (Retd.) | Former Secretary General, National Human Rights Commission | |
| Geetha Thoopal | IRAS (Retd.) | Former General Manager, Metro Railway, Kolkata | |
| Hindal Tyabji | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chief Secretary rank, Govt. of Jammu & Kashmir | |
| Ashok Vajpeyi | IAS (Retd.) | Former Chairman, Lalit Kala Akademi | |
| Ramani Venkatesan | IAS (Retd.) | Former Director General, YASHADA, Govt. of Maharashtra |
Constitutional Conduct Group 
Wolfs wears the sheep skin. Indian peoples recognise these cells.
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