Shillong: Meghalaya’s opposition Voice of the People Party (VPP) has demanded the Director of School Education and Literacy Swapnil Tembe to immediately withdraw the show-cause notice issued against the principal of Government Girls’ Higher Secondary School, Jowai, for allowing students to play a campaign song of the party.
The party also demanded that the officer should “offer an unconditional apology not only to the principal of the school concerned for the harassment but also to the general public for his attempt to infringe upon the citizens’ right to make choices”.
‘Kongdeng Kongnah Ha U Prah’, the popular election anthem of the VPP was played by the students during the recent Teachers’ Day festivities.
In the show-cause notice issued to the principal of the school on September 8, Tembe said ,” the school principal breached government rules by playing the song of a political party and also directed the principal to explain why disciplinary action should not be taken against the school authorities for the violation of rules and norms.”
However, the VPP termed the show-cause notice to the principal as “unwarranted, fatuous, condemnable, and more importantly, worrisome”.
“The development is particularly worrisome as it reveals the predicament that plagues the bureaucracy in the state of Meghalaya. Bureaucracy is supposed to be the most “rational element in the government,” with the ability to perform with the “highest degree of efficiency. But this notice reveals two possibilities,” the VPP said.
According to the VPP, the show-cause notice revealed the first possibility that the officer took the initiative on his own, and this could be due to his total lack of knowledge and understanding of the Meghalaya Services (Conduct) Rules, 2019 or his over eagerness to impress upon the party or parties ruling the state “for reasons best known to him”.
In the show cause notice, the officer concerned failed to cite any rule that the principal is alleged to be violating. In fact, there is no rule to fix responsibility upon a government servant for the actions of the students who are not governed by the Rules of 2019,” the VPP said.
The party also said the second possibility is that the officer in question issued a notice at the directive of his political masters or some terrified politicians.
It is undoubtedly true that some elements are petrified with the response of the people, including children in the state, to the call of the VPP for clean politics. Such elements have the desire to find ways and means to intimidate the people to stop the spread of people’s love for the VPP,” it added.
”Whatever the possibility is, the issuance of the notice reflects that there is a section in the Meghalaya bureaucracy that is incompetent, irrational, and spineless. One wonders what will be the future of the state of Meghalaya when we have such officers at the helm of affairs,” the VPP said.
The campaign song of the VPP has garnered attention beyond politics and is now commonly played at various social gatherings, including weddings and picnics in the state.
The nascent VPP has four members in the 60-member Meghalaya Assembly.
