Selective Outrage: A Question Mark On The IAS Association’s Credibility

The recent storm over BJP MLC N Ravikumar’s ill-conceived remark against Karnataka Chief Secretary Shalini Rajneesh has generated considerable heat, and rightfully so. When public representatives stoop to sarcasm or innuendo against senior civil servants—especially women holding constitutional offices—condemnation must be swift and unambiguous. On that count, the IAS Officers’ Association was right to flag Ravikumar’s words as unbecoming and demand accountability.

However, what has not gone unnoticed is the Association’s curious silence in two previous, more egregious incidents—both involving the Chief Minister himself—that called for, but never received, similar institutional outrage. If public dignity of civil servants is to be defended at all, it must be defended impartially. That moral principle appears lost in the present selective activism.

Let us recall the two incidents.

In March 2024, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, in a fit of visible anger, charged menacingly at Belagavi Additional SP Mahantesh during a tense public event, apparently about security arrangements for a KMF meeting. Video footage clearly showed the CM raising his hand in a threatening gesture, with words exchanged that reportedly bordered on abuse. Any lesser mortal would have had an FIR to face. Here, no apology was issued. And the IAS or IPS officers’ forums, despite this act of executive intimidation, remained curiously inert.

The second instance came in January 2025, when CM Siddaramaiah publicly berated Vijayanagar Deputy Commissioner M S Diwakar at a mass wedding event. In full public view, the CM shouted: “Who are you? Why are you sitting here? Go sit somewhere else.” A senior IAS officer was treated like an errant clerk, stripped of dignity for a perceived breach of protocol. Again, the silence of the IAS Association was deafening. No statement, no expression of institutional solidarity. Only quiet embarrassment.

Contrast this with the present case, where a BJP MLC’s vague, innuendo-laden—but arguably less direct—statement has led to immediate censure, police FIRs, media campaigns, and moral outrage. This discrepancy is not just puzzling, it is damning.

It begs a blunt question: Has the IAS Officers’ Association become a political weather vane, speaking out only when it's convenient or safe to do so? Condemning a ruling Chief Minister may be uncomfortable. Calling out an opposition MLC is easy, even risk-free. But selective courage is no courage at all. Either the dignity of the service matters in all cases—or it doesn’t.

BJP State President B. Y. Vijayendra has rightly questioned this asymmetry. His charge that the Association is guided more by political affiliations than institutional duty merits serious introspection. If a Chief Secretary’s honour deserves collective defense, so does that of a Deputy Commissioner or an Additional SP. The hierarchy of outrage must not mirror the hierarchy of political power.

Civil service associations are meant to be guardians of neutrality and institutional values. Their silence in the face of executive overreach, and their noise only when it suits a narrative, betrays the very ethos they are sworn to uphold.

If the IAS Association wants to retain the respect of the public and its own members, it must shed this double standard. Condemn Ravikumar—yes, but also confront the CM’s past conduct. Anything less is not just selective outrage—it is moral abdication.