ACTOR Om Puri’s allegedly “derogatory and defamatory” language against politicians might have made Members of Parliament utterly angry and upset, some bureaucrats have quietly expressed their happiness about a part of the comment, if not in entirety. The babus who along with politicians have now been under fire from civil society activists on the issue of corruption, say it was a “backhand compliment” to them. None of the bureaucrats have, however, said anything on record.
Standing next to anti-graft crusader Anna Hazare at Ramlila Ground on last Saturday, Puri told a gathering that he felt ashamed to see “an IAS or IPS officer salute a ganwaar neta (illiterate politician)”. The Bollywood actor did not stop there. He said: “Yeh anpadh hain, inka kya background hai? Aadhe se zyaada MP ganwaar aur nalaayak hain (They are uneducated; what’s their background? More than half of the MPs are illiterate and useless).” Puri later apologised for his statements, saying the comments were made in the heat of the moment. There were allegations that Puri was drunk when he made those comments. Puri denied allegations that he was drunk then.
Meanwhile, Parliament accepted Privilege notices against actor Om Puri and former IPS offiicer Kiran Bedi for using “derogatory and defamatory” language against politicians. An MP in Rajya Sabha accused lawyer activist Prashant Bhushan for reportedly saying that legislations are passed by Parliament after taking bribe.
The MPs who took the initiative to bring Privilege motion included PL Punia, Jagadambika Pal, Ramashankar Rajbhar, Lalchand Kataria, Mirza Aslam Beg, Praveen Aron and Shailendra Kumar.
Action and Appointments
a) The government has decided to crack the whip on over 200 IAS officers who have not submitted their immovable property returns despite many reminders. The last date is January 1 every year. V Narayanasamy, minister of state for personnel told media that all cadre authorities were told to call for explanation of officers, who had not submitted their returns.
b) The Central government has approved extension of inter-cadre deputation of PB Salim, a 2001 batch West Bengal cadre IAS from West Bengal to Kerala cadre for a period of six months December 15, 2011 .