In a first-of-its-kind incident, a league of former civil servants had turned heads by penning a scathing letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in which they underlined the growing politics of hate and pressed that his silence has been deafening. They expressed their hope that Modi will call for an end to the hate politics, that is harming the Constitution itself.

The letter has been going viral as some of the former servants, who served in the top posts, had acknowledged that the country is being divided through bigotry. The former bureaucrats had noted that such hate politics are being practised by the governments under the BJP's control.

Some of the former bureaucrats who were in the league include former National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's principal secretary Nair, former Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Najeeb Jung, former Home Secretary GK Pillai, and former Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh. In total, 108 former civil servants had rendered their signatures to the letter.

In an open letter, they said, "We are witnessing a frenzy of hate-filled destruction in the country where at the sacrificial altar are not just Muslims and members of the other minority communities but the Constitution itself." They further said, "As former civil servants, it is not normally our want to express ourselves in such extreme terms, but the relentless pace at which the constitutional edifice created by our founding fathers is being destroyed compels us to speak out and express our anger and anguish." 

The former civil servants had highlighted that they believe that the threat is unprecedented and at stake is not just constitutional morality and conduct. "It is the unique syncretic social fabric which is our greatest civilisational inheritance and which our Constitution is so meticulously designed to converse, is likely to be torn apart." 

The letter further said that the escalation of hate violence against the minority communities, particularly Muslims, in the last few years and months across several states - Assam, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, all states in which the BJP is power, except Delhi where the Union government controls the police, has acquired a frightening new dimension. 

In the letter, the former civil servants underlined, "Your (Modi) silence in the face of this enormous societal threat is deafening. We appeal to your conscience, taking heart from your promise of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, and Sabka Vishwas. It is our fond hope that in this year of 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav', rising above partisan considerations, you will call for an end to the politics of hate that governments under your party's control are so assiduously practising."