AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PM FOR JUSTICE

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PM FOR JUSTICE

Respected Pradhanmantri Narendra Modiji,

With due respect and faith, I am writing this letter because I know you are a justice loving person. In India, it is a crime to be honest, to oppose injustice and to rise for ones rights. Having seen the country, I hope you will agree that self-respect of an employee today is just like a football, only to be kicked and crushed by those in power. But everything has a limit.

My father is an Ordinary Indian. He works as Head Commercial Clerk in Raipur (SECR), Indian railways, always overtime and underprivileged. Even in spite of acute staff shortage and suffocating working conditions, it is the handful people like him who have still kept the railways breathing in the ICU. He worked 12 hours a day, but did not complain. He has been waiting for promotion since 1990s, but he did not complain. He is applauded but never rewarded. But still he kept working. Why? Because he loves the railways. Doing work for works sake is his only joy. But again, everything has a limit. When it comes to the self-respect, how long can one keep mum?

Dear Modiji, if someone, even though he is your boss, calls you a ‘scoundrel’ and keeps on firing a barge of swear words, what should be done? Will you just keep quiet or stand up to protect your self-respect? This happened to my father in the month of September 2014. After my father returned to office after routine checking of goods at station, the ACM entered Raipur Parcel office in the name of inspection and started abusing everyone present there. He called them ‘bloody scoundrels’ and several other swear words whose mere mention amounts to indiscretion. Now my father committed a fatal error, or rather a crime. He stood up and politely asked the officer to mind his language and thus opened Pandora’s Box. I know he shouldn’t have stood up and swallowed everything like others. But, he is the senior most staff, aged 59, having high blood pressure and recovering from depression.

Now, the officer did not expect such a resistance and threatened to get him transferred to a remote location. My father did not worry as he had done nothing against the rules. One thing he did not know was that he is in India, where Boss is always right, where rules are made to be broken, where employees are supposed to lick the boots of their superiors. So finally today, i.e., 6th November, 2014, the inevitable happened. He got transferred to Dhamtari, about 100 kilometers from Raipur. And of course the transfer order was issued without showing any reason and breaking several rules. As per rules, with less than 2 years to superannuation, my father cannot be transferred outside headquarters. Transfer cannot be used as a means of punishment and if Railway servants have to be transferred, as a general rule the junior most employees should be transferred first.

Modiji, can these officers explain that how can they such blatantly break these rules when they themselves are responsible for the safeguard of rules? No they can’t. Everybody knows that. What right do they have to harass a senior staff? My mother is suffering from serious hypertension, high blood pressure, acute lumbar spondylitis. Their only son is out of station studying at IIT in Varanasi. Dhamtari is such a place where one needs to come to Raipur for even the smallest of medical problems. So, how can an ailing aged couple travel to such a place? On enquiry, the officials told that it was a disciplinary action (unofficially) and he would be brought back after a few months. Is it a childs play? Have these officers sold their souls to the devil? Isn’t a single bit of humanity left in their hearts, God only knows! In the past numerous orders of transfer have been issued, but most of them have been hushed. How, its not even worth guessing.

Modiji, please stop these inhuman officials from harassing hard working citizens like my poor father or else provide them guns and allow them to just shoot people rather than killing them in installments. It would be a lot more humane solution.

Modiji, you have seen the country from the perspective of a common man. You may understand the trauma that me and my parents are going through now. It is for you to decide if you want the country to be run by the hard working people or by the whims of the bureaucrats. I have written this letter in hope that several people victim of such atrocities as this would dare to rise. India needs brave people, not the ‘chaaplus’ ones. Modiji, I want justice. I hope that you would help deliverance of justice rather than hinder it.

Yours Sincerely
Soumyadeep Das
s/o Deepak Kumar Das