Former Bureaucrats, Ex-Top Cops Counter Open Letter Against UP Government

The signatories include former UP chief secretary Yogendra Narain, former UP DGP O P Singh and former CBI director M Nageswara Rao

A group of citizens, including former judges, IAS and IPS officers, today slammed those accusing the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh of "crushing" dissent by suppressing democratic protests, and said their statement was "irresponsible and wholly misconceived". It is a matter of concern that a group of retired civil servants aligned to a "particular political stream despite overtly posing as non-political", repeatedly avail of every opportunity to put the Indian democracy, its institutions, and persons legitimately holding high offices in poor light by making ill-considered public statements or writing misconceived communications to various authorities, the group alleged. The 151 signatories to the statement include former UP chief secretary Yogendra Narain, former UP DGP O P Singh, former Sikkim High Court chief justice Permod Kohli and former CBI director M Nageswara Rao besides a number of retired IFS and military officials. Their statement is an apparent rebuttal to another group of former civil servants, IPS officials and others who have often criticised the Yogi Adityanath government for allegedly suppressing dissent and using state instruments to target its critics.