Tamil Nadu government has ordered top bureaucrat C. Umashankar, 51-year-old IAS officer to stop preaching and propagating Christianity and has threatened to slap disciplinary action against him.
The order was coveyed to C. Umashankar, 1991-batch Tamil Nadu cadre officer through K. Gnanadesikan, Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu state government on 24th January.
In the letter, the Chief Secretary stated that violating the government direction would invite disciplinary action against him under relevant provisions of the All India Services (conduct) Rules, 1968, and the All India Services (Discipline & Appeal) Rules, 1969.
The Chief Secretary also chided the officer for his action on January 16 in Kanyakumari stating that disturbed public order and resulted in two police cases.
Umashankar has cancelled all his appointments and clarified that he preached in the churches and there is no law barring him from doing so. And the police cases are uncalled for because he preached inside the church.
"The state government order asking me not to preach Jesus Christ is illegal and unconstitutional but I have complied with the directive. I have cancelled 7 meetings till yesterday and this week again I am cancelling. I go and preach in churches. Where is there a problem with others? Where does it affect their rights? They have restricted my individual freedom, my rights," Umashankar told CNN IBN TV channel.
"Where are they getting the idea that an IAS officer cannot exercise his religious right? My service rules are very clear: they do not speak about religion. Religion is my fundamental right and the Supreme Court is very clear on this. If a fundamental right has to be curtailed, it must be through legislation," he added.
Meanwhile, Hindu Munnani (Hindu Front) founder Rama Gopalan has welcomed the government's order. He said his organisation has often condemned Umashankar for preaching and propagating Christianity. Gopalan said it was against his service rules and his organisation had filed a complaint against him.
Umashankar was earlier suspended in 2010 after doubts were raised about the genuinness of his Dalit certificate. But it was found that it was true and the suspension was revoked later.
Umashankar is known as a crusader against corruption and an early advocate of the use of free software in e-governance.
He was credited for helping Tiruvarur as the Collector to become first e-district in India, introducing transparent and technology-enabled administration for the public. This project got an international attention. Umashankar in Tamil Nadu, Sonal Misra in Gujarat and Sanjay Saju in Andra Pradesh are pioneers in e-governance.
Umashankar, a Dalit, said it was the pressure and torture by different governments and politicians forced him to change his faith to Christianity in 2008 to help him in "battles against a corrupt establishment". Umashankar is known for his remarkable work in introducing open source softwares in Tamil Nadu, successfully implementing e-governance and exposing the Cremation Shed scam in the first J Jayalalithaa government (1991-96) in which a minister was convicted.
According to Former judge of Madras High Court Justice K Chandru: "No specific conduct rules prevent Umashankar from preaching religion and he is allowed to do that as long is he is not hurting anyone. Interestingly, the direction was sent by a government, whose entire cabinet ministers had stood in queues for special pujas to save a leader from a corruption case. We have top IAS officers who perform pujas in their office," he was quoted as saying.
Article 25 of the Constituation gives right to people freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion.
Umashankar alleged that the state government's move is unconstitutional and will move court against the directive.
