BBureaucrats and Politics have been related for quite a long time now but the trend of bureaucrats joining active politics is steadily increasing. Some have the view that bureaucrats make for better politicians because of their administrative skills and experience. While others are quite sceptical about this practice and have raised the issue of “conflict of interests.” The Election Commission of India had also tried to issue a “cooling-off period” for the ex-bureaucrats which barred them from joining politics or contesting elections right after their retirement. However, this plea was rejected by the union government.
The trend and practice of Babus turning into Netas are sceptical and intriguing, to say the least. During the first Vajpayee government also there were some ex-bureaucrats who entered politics and held important positions; most prominent being the Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha. The ex-prime minister of India, Manmohan Singh (2004-2014) was also an ex-economist cum bureaucrat, before entering the Union Cabinet under P.V. Narsimha Rao. During his regime, the cabinet saw many Ex-IAS, IPS and government officials holding important positions in the council of ministers. Social Justice and Empowerment Minister and also the Speaker of Lok Sabha Meira Kumar were an ex-bureaucrat as well. The current Modi regime reshuffled its cabinet to include six ex-bureaucrats in the union council, namely, Satyapal Singh, Hardeep Singh Puri, Raj Kumar Singh and Alphons Kamanthanam.
When the general elections are around the corner there have been reports of many civil servants taking early retirements and joining politics as the members of BJP or INC or others. There have been few like Manmohan Singh, Yashwant Sinha, Meira Kumar, P L Punia and Pavan Verma (Members Rajya Sabha), and others have managed to make their mark as great policymakers and handled crucial posts in the government there are many who have just stagnated to being a part of the party and enjoy the perks that come with politics.
One of the reasons which appeal the bureaucrats in joining politics is having a post-retirement sinecure. Post-retirement many of the officials who join politics manage to become Governors in order to harbour their political ambitions. So, commenting upon whether ex-bureaucrats make good politicians is something which is quite un-proportional as the ratio of ex-bureaucrats serving as capable and efficient policymakers is very less to those entering politics to harbour their own motives.
Apart from the ministers in the cabinet, there have been many others who have risen to a particularly high stature in politics. The most dramatic of them being Arvind Kejriwal, founder of Aam Aadmi Party. Other prominent faces being Kiran Rao, Aruna Roy, Ajit Jogi, Mehboob Iqbal and others.