Denied top post, IAS officer turns Muslim
Salodia said he was exercising his right under article 25(1) of the constitution to adopt Islam.
Jaipur: Alleging discrimination by the BJP government, additional chief secretary and chairman of Rajasthan roadways development corporation Umrao Salodia not only quit the service but also converted to Islam.
Salodia has applied for VRS and given three months notice asking to be relieved by March 31, 2016. He was to retire on June 30, 2016. The 1978 batch IAS officer was unhappy about the way BJP government chose to deny him chief secretary’s post.
Going by seniority, Salodia would have been the senior most IAS officer in race for the next chief secretary had present incumbent C.S. Rajan — a favourtie of Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje — not given extension to continue for next three months at the end of his tenure that would have ended on Thursday.
Salodia said he was exercising his right under article 25(1) of the constitution to adopt Islam as being a dalit he faced discrimination and atrocities in the Hindu society. “I am not made chief secretary because I am a dalit. There is no such discrimination in Islam,” he said in a press conference on Thursday.
“I am impressed by the Islam which does not discrimination on the basis of caste. From now on I would be known as Umrao Khan,” he said.
The IAS officer has also shot off a letter to the CM in which he described the government’s decision to deny him chief secretary’s post. “I belong to scheduled caste and by virtue of being the senior most officer, I should have been made chief secretary. However, I was denied this opportunity because of three months extension to present chief secretary C.S. Rajan till 31 March 2016,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, PCC president Sachin Pilot has used the opportunity to corner the BJP government.