Hell with Protocol: BJP District President summons BDO, his staff

KULGAM — Though Jammu Kashmir is directly controlled by New Delhi at present and there is no representative government in the erstwhile State, yet BJP units is Kashmir seem to exhort pressure on government officials and force them to even visit their homes to get the works of their workers done.

People witnessed a strange incident in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district where Block Development Officer for Devsar along with his staff visited the house of BJP District President Abid Khan, throwing protocol and norms to winds.

Earlier, elected politicians mostly ministers used to force government officers to visit their homes but now lesser known politicians and that too, unelected ones are compelling government officers to salute them at their homes in front of their workers.

Eyewitnesses said that Block Development Officer for Devsar, Manzoor Ahmed was seen in the house of BJP District President Kulgam, Abid Khan along with his whole staff, enjoying tea and snacks. The locals said that the officer was called to the house to get the works of BJP workers done in the Blocks.

“Most of these works are related to MGNREGA and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan while BJP workers want BDO to get their works done and that is why, probably under pressure, BDO visited the house of Abid Khan along with his whole staff,” they said.

This is probably for the first time that a BDO-like officer visited the house of a BJP politician, caring a fig for the protocol.

Pertinently, in the first week of this current month, this BJP district president ignored all COVID-19 norms and arranged two meetings at Watihal Qazigund and Chowgam Kulgam. He even arranged Wazwan while Sub-Divisional Magistrate Dooru Ghulam Rasool had directed police to register an FIR against him and his workers.

BDO Devsar Manzoor Ahmed was baffled when this reporter asked him why he visited the house of BJP District President along with his staff. The ‘bewildered’ BDO said: “There were some issues related to MGNREGA and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and there was some misunderstanding between two persons and to sort that out…It was nothing…I have already pressure of 4 Blocks…”