CPI(M) Polit Bureau member, Brinda Karat has lodged a police complaint against Nageswar Rao, an IPS officer who is Director General of Fire Services, Home Guards and Civil Defence under union home ministry, for his tweets inciting communal hatred.  She has written to union home minister Amit Shah on July 28, regarding the same and urged him to ensure the prosecution of the officer according to the law of the land. In another complaint made to the station house officer (SHO), Mandir Marg Police Station, Delhi, she has asked the police to register an FIR against Nageswar Rao under Sec 153A and 295A, for making outrageous politically motivated public statement on Twitter, which was reported in the Indian Express on July 27.  

Brinda Karat complained against Nageswar Rao for making insulting statements about heroic freedom fighter Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and other notable educationists belonging mainly to the Muslim community using derogatory language against them and inciting feelings of enmity between two communities. “He has openly praised the RSS and BJP for the “rehinduisation of India”. He has approvingly commented on the “growth of the BJP”. He has made demeaning comments against the ‘Leftists’,” she wrote in her letter to the home minister.

She stressed that Nageswar Rao is a serving officer bound by service rules and conditions which do not allow him to make politically motivated public statements. She also pointed out that each officer is duty bound to protect and defend the constitution of India.

Brinda Karat added that this is not the first time he has so violated service rules or incited communal feelings. “On somewhat similar grounds when he was a serving officer in the Berhampur Development Authority in Odisha in the late nineties, he made some toxic communal statements. Two official inquiries found him guilty and indicted him and took disciplinary measures. So he is a habitual offender with a bad record.”

“His comments may make him eligible for induction into the BJP or RSS after his scheduled retirement reportedly on July 31. However he has made these statements as a serving officer. He therefore must be chargesheeted for violation of service rules and also prosecuted under the relevant sections of the IPC.” she wrote.

She also urged the home minister to take action against Rao so that officers who serve the country, remaining politically neutral and within the constitutional framework, will get confidence that those like Nageswar Rao who violate service rules as well as the spirit of the constitution with a political motive, will face punishment according to the law.

She has filed a formal police complaint against Nageswar Rao on July 28 and urged them to take necessary action for his anti-constitutional and derogatory statements on Muslims and Left historians of the country.