After IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal was suspended for allegedly demolishing part of a mosque, another bureaucrat has been suspended for indulging in an act that could have destroyed the communal harmony in the state. Shiv Bhakti Goatpal, the suspended officer posted in the excise department, was accused of eating samosa in front of a poor Muslim fasting during the holy month of Ramzan.
“We can’t allow such acts to go unchecked,” Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav told this writer, “If a person’s acts can cause communal tension, we will surely act.”
Interestingly, the poor Muslim guy has no problem. He agreed to talk to Faking News on conditions of anonymity as he doesn’t want to get dragged into politics. “Why should I be offended if someone is eating!?” he said, “He offered me the samosa-chai but I politely told him that I was on Roza. He even said sorry, but he didn’t have to. I don’t know how this issue got out of hand. I feel bad for the babu.”
Sources tell Faking News that the real reason why Shiv Bhakti was suspended was because he had acted against hooch sellers and the daaru mafia was upset with him.
While no one in the government was ready to respond on the mafia angle, government employees in the state are planning to not perform the duties assigned to them lest they too get suspended for disturbing Politicians-Mafia communal harmony.
“We are not going on any strike or anything. We will come to the office, sit around, have tea, read the newspaper, and go back home. We will try to make sure that drinking tea and reading papers doesn’t disturb any harmony,” a senior officer in UP Secretariat said.
The officer further claimed that suspension creates financial losses for them. “No no, not the salary. The contractors refuse to pay you when you are suspended,” he clarified.
Coming out of the secretariat, we noticed a huge crowd gathered to watch India-Zimbabwe cricket match in the office canteen. When we asked someone why so much interest in a dead rubber between India and Zimbabwe, he replied, “Cricket is a religion boss. We are just maintaining communal harmony in the state by watching every cricket match.”
