National Conference Says J&K Govt's Social Media Guidelines Portray All Govt Employees As 'Terrorists'

A day after the J&K government issued detailed guidelines to all government employees about how to behave on social media, the main opposition party,  National Conference, Wednesday accused the PDP-BJP Government of portraying lakhs of government employees of the State as terrorists and anti-social elements. 

 The NC spokesperson Junaid Azim Mattu said the social media 'diktat' issued by the government is an obnoxious, tyrannical and unacceptable insult to employees and depicts the regressive mindset of the Mehbooba Mufti Government. 

“The diktat, in the form of an amendment to the J&K Government Employees Conduct Rules 1971, aims to defame and vilify lakhs of Government employees as either terrorists or anti-social elements who are apparently unable to differentiate between right and wrong in conducting themselves on a day-to-day basis", he said.

"In asking Government employees to “not endorse the posts or tweets or blogs of any political figure” even from their personal accounts, the State Government has yet again exhibited a chronic sense of insecurity and intolerance to criticism and contrarian views", the spokesman added.

"It's quite possible that the government might issue another diktat asking Government employees to endorse every post and tweet of Mehbooba Mufti on social media - given the damning invective of indifference people have shown towards her. This level of pettiness is unbecoming”, the NC said. 

“Our government employees have rendered exemplary services in the face of great adversity and constitute the backbone of our Government system. They have risked their lives in the thick of political turmoil to ensure essential services are not interrupted and have behaved with utmost responsibility and dignity. In an order to divert the attention of the people from the Government’s own political failure, the Chief Minister is resorting to shifting the blame on employees in spite of the fact that she has personally deputed her chosen few Government and JK Bank employees for quasi-political deputations to the PDP where they are active parts of the party’s political and media activities. Nothing could be more ironic”, Mattu added. 

He asked the Chief Minister and her Council of Ministers to first stop their policy of foisting their chosen few officers as heads of crucial schemes and departments and in key administrative positions in violation of merit despite proven cases of corruption and misappropriation against them. “This sparkling high morality of the PDP-BJP Government in this case would be funny had it not been so outrageous and tragic. On one hand this Government has given key positions to its few chosen officers despite public and legal indictments of corruption against them and on the other hand the same Government has the audacity to sermonize and lecture lakhs of Government employees about their day-to-day conduct”, he  said. 

“This Government has broken all records of nepotism and corruption while failing to deliver political leadership and a progressive vision, based on which the State could function in a positive manner. It is tragic that rather than introspecting at the political level, the PDP-BJP Government has chosen to deflect blame by shifting the blame on the employees. Three years in power, the PDP-BJP Government remains utterly clueless and disconnected while robbing our Public Institutions of objectivity, transparency and allowing a complete evasion of accountability. If anyone needs to change their behavior for the betterment of the State, it is the Chief Minister and her Council of Ministers”, Mattu added. 

He said it was the PDP-BJP Government itself that handpicked brazenly partisan Government officers and employees of financial institutions and deputed them to blatantly political assignments to run the media operations of PDP and BJP. “Here we have a Chief Minister who has sacrificed every possible vestige of propriety and rules of conduct by handpicking anti-social and openly partisan trolls from social media to function as her secretaries and official staff - a reward given to them for abusing PDP's political opponents. And then we have the same Chief Minister snubbing all Government employees by issuing this gag order", he said.