JOIN USKarnataka govt asks IAS officer to explain Tablighi tweet
The state government has issued a show-cause notice to senior IAS officer Mohammad Mohsin, asking him to explain a tweet on Tablighi Jamaat workers.
Mohsin, a 1996-batch officer currently posted as the backward classes welfare secretary, has since deleted the tweet.
The Department of Personnel & Administrative Reforms (DPAR) took exception to Mohsin’s April 27 tweet, which has been quoted in the notice thus: “More than 300 Tablighi Heroes are donating their plasma to serve the country in New Delhi only. What about #GodiMedia? They will not show the works of humanity done by these heroes.”
The notice goes on to say: “The adverse coverage this tweet has got in the media has been taken note seriously by the government given the serious nature of Covid-19 issue and the sensitivities involved.”
Mohsin has been asked to submit a written explanation, failing which the government said it will take disciplinary action.
Confirming the receipt of the notice, Mohsin said: “I will respond to it as per law and rules.”
Tablighi Jamaat is an Islamic missionary movement whose mid-March convention at Nizamuddin in Delhi became infamous for the spread of COVID-19.
Mohsin was in the news during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections after the Election Commission briefly suspended him for inspecting Prime Minister Narnedra Modi’s helicopter in Odisha during a campaign. Mohsin was then deputed in Odisha as a general observer. He was reprimanded for allegedly violating protocol of those covered by the Special Protection Group (SPG).
A look at Mohsin’s Twitter profile shows that he frequently retweets posts that are critical of the Centre.
After attending the event, the group's members travelled to various parts of the country, with many of them carrying the virus.