POLITICS

This is History (2542)

Joy takes a strange effect at times, it seems to oppress us almost the same as sorrow.

‘Sapt Rishi Mandal “of Yogi Adityanath

Prime Minister's laying of foundation stone of a university in Aligarh is significant for several reasons in the wake of upcoming election year in Uttar Pradesh. 

On the one hand it intended to assuage the sentiments of the Jat Community in western UP by naming of a university after “Jat king” and freedom fighter Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh. On the other hand it also put to rest all kinds of controversies regarding weakening of the authority of Yogi Adityanath as Chief Minister of UP & the centre’s purported unhappiness with Yogi Adityanath. 

During the course of his speech Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised the work of the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government on the development front as well as the law and order front.

“Today, Uttar Pradesh is becoming an attractive place for every small and big investor in the country and the world. This happens when the right environment is created for development. 

There was a time when the administration was run by goons, governance was in the hands of the corrupt, but now such people are behind bars," PM Modi said.

He also pointed to the “lawlessness” that prevailed during previous government . “However, with Yogiji in power, criminals think twice before committing a crime,” PM Modi said.

Such an unequivocal appreciation from the PM is definitely a shot in the arm for the Yogi Government & his carefully selected team members who have provided the government a solid foundation for development & law and order front.

An analysis of the UP bureaucracy reveals that the following bureaucrats constitute the ‘SaptRishi’ Mandal of Yogi Adityanath who have worked steadfastly to earn the laurels from Prime Minister in Aligarh.

1-SP Goyal 

2-Awanish Awasthi  

3-RK Tiwari  

4-Navneet Sehgal 

5-Prashant kumar 

6-Amit Mohan Prasad

7-Shishir Singh

1- SP Goyal-

The 1989 batch IAS officer maintains an extremely low profile & is posted as principal secretary to CM ever since the inception of the Government. 

He was serving at the Centre when the new government in UP was formed in 2017, and was repatriated to the state. Apart from being the principal secretary to the CM, he  handles important departments such as civil aviation, estates and protocol & every important file to the CM is routed through him. 

It was being rumoured that despite his inclination to serve in the centre, Yogi Adityanath has not given him the green signal for it due to his crucial role in running the Government.

2-Awanish Awasthi-

The 1987 batch officer is widely known as the ‘Man Friday’ of Yogi Adityanath he was prematurely repatriated from the centre to join the Yogi Government. At the time of his joining it was speculated that he was called to join as Principal Secretary to the CM but due to reasons unknown he landed up with charge of Principal Secretary information & later on ACS home. 

He is also the CEO of UPEIDA which is vested with the responsibility of the most the most ambitious project of Yogi Government the Poorvanchal Expressway. 

Though he was divested of his information portfolio after the government drew flak in the ‘ Hathras  episode’ yet due to his workaholic nature & absolute loyalty to the Chief Minister, he remains indispensable to the Government. At one time it seemed eminent that Yogi Adityanath wanted to replace RK Tiwari with Awanish Awasthi as the Chief Secretary of the state but due to RK Tiwari’s powerful backing from the Sangh, this reshuffle was averted.

3- R K Tiwari-

A 1985 batch officer he took over as the 53rd Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh on August 30, 2019. He remains a low profile and belongs to an illustrious family of bureaucrats.

Widely respected for his honesty and integrity, R K Tiwari has previously served as Joint Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of Agriculture & Cooperation. He has served previously  in UP Government in higher and secondary education, agriculture, infrastructure and industrial development, IT and electronics, commercial tax, labour etc.

It is anyone’s guess that he was not the choice of Yogi Adityanath for the post of chief secretary as the state government had sent a letter to the centre for relieving the 1984 batch officers Durga Shankar Mishra and Sanjay Agarwal for a new assignment in the state. The centre government did not consider their names as both the officers were serving as secretary in key ministries in the Centre and had the responsibility of implementing crucial projects of the Narendra Modi government. Tiwari was made interim chief secretary of the state after the retirement of Anoop Chandra Pandey  and after a considerable gap of several months Tiwari was made the chief secretary. 

Despite not enjoying CM’s confidence, Tiwari’s non controversial   & consensual style of functioning has endeared him to everyone in UP bureaucracy. He remains the driving force of team 11 of Yogi Adityanath & seamlessly coordinates the functioning of various departments.

4-Navneet Sehgal -

The favourite troubleshooter for all Governments Sehgal is a 1988-batch IAS officer who served as secretary to Mayawati for her entire five-year term between 2007 and 2012. 

Relegated to an obscure posting in Akhilesh Yadav regime, Sehgal was roped in as principal secretary, information, by the Samajwadi Party government for crisis management during 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots.

Handling the ambitious project of the Lucknow-Agra Expressway, as well as ensuring good publicity for the government, he soon became the most favourite officer of Akhilesh Government.

When Yogi Government came to power in 2017, Sehgal was once again shunted out but he was again roped in as crisis manager post the Hathras incident.  With his deeper engagement with media, he shall remain an asset for any Government in the state.

5- Amit Mohan Prasad- 

Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Amit Mohan Prasad, the man often seen in daily Covid briefings is widely regarded as the man who has steered the state out of Covid crisis. Despite not being a centre of power, he has had one of the most challenging assignments in the state and through regular communication with media he has to a large extent neutralised the negativity about COVID mismanagement in the state.

6- Prashant Kumar-  

A 1990 batch officer, who maintains a deadly demeanour with his robust moustaches. Having proved his mettle as ADG Zone Meerut, he single handily wiped out organised crime from western UP & endeared himself to CM Yogi. This led to his elevation as ADG LO UP & since then he has not looked back. 

After OP Singh’s retirement, it was widely known that his successor Hitesh Chandra Awasthi did not enjoy the trust of CM. During this period and till date it is Prashant Kumar who has filled the huge void created after OP Sigh’s retirement & delivers the goods on CM’s behest. 

As ADG LO, he is the driving force against the Anti Mafia operation in the state & his name leaves Mafias and gangsters terror struck. 

Despite being the Man Friday of UP Police what distinguishes Prashant Kumar from his erstwhile predecessors like Brijlal is his non partisanship & preference to remain in background. Despite enjoying  tremendous confidence of CM & his aides alike, he has never tried to become a centre of power unto himself & gives due deference to the institution of DGP. As spokesperson of UP Police, he handles an onerous responsibility of defending UPPolice every now and then in national media. As chief of ATS and STF he is also one of the most decorated officers of the country & is known to lead from the front in battlefront. 

Under his leadership UP ATS has scripted history by busting a nationwide religious conversion racket & also ISI supported modules few days ago.

7- Shishir Singh-

A promoted IAS officer serves as Director Information of the state government and is regarded as one of the most trusted lieutenants of Yogi Government. Due to the CM’s confidence, he is regarded as one of the most powerful DI’s till date. 

Earlier the principal secretary information used to remain the fulcrum of information department but Shishir Singh has proved to be an exception. Insiders say that Shishir calls the shot for most of the crucial decisions regarding advertisement budgets allocation to various media houses. His earlier stint as SDM in Gorakhpur served him handy to cultivate ties with Yogi Adityanath & after an initial period of being in the loop line after this government came to power he was inducted as DI on the insistence of CM himself.

DEBATE

Who after Modi ?

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