Balasore: Senior BJP leader and Union Minister Bishweswar Tudu have courted controversy by claiming that many of the officers appointed through Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) are dacoits. A chicken thief can be punished but the mineral mafia cannot as the system protects them, the Union minister of state for tribal affairs and Jal Shakti alleged while addressing as the chief guest in the golden jubilee function of a government school at Baliapal in Balasore district Saturday. He was heard making that controversial statement in a video which was shared on social networking sites. The authenticity of the video was not checked by PTI. “I had an idea that those who are appointed through UPSC are the most knowledgeable persons and are always in high positions. But now I feel that most of those who have qualified from there perhaps are dacoits. I do not say 100 per cent, but many of them are dacoits,” Tudu said. The UPSC is the country’s premier central recruitment agency that appoints top government officers. The minister, who is an MP of Odisha, said that the UPSC office is just behind his residence in Delhi and initially he had high regard for it but that has changed now.
During his speech, Tudu also asked: “Why our society is engulfed in corruption and injustice if such educated people are there?”. Giving reply to his own question, Tudu said, “It is because of lack of morality in our education system. Lack of spiritual education and thoughts among us.” The minister had in 2021 accused state government officials of misbehaving with him in his constituency in Mayurbhanj.
