Power play in Uttar Pradesh as no one willing to throw in the 'towel'

As per a report, an emergency meeting was called by chief secretary Manoj Kumar Singh in response to the complaints over adherence to the towel rules.

Oblivious are those who think towels are mere pieces of clothes used to wipe oneself, when in reality they are used to signify power and position.

It is a common practice in bureaucracy to place a white towel on the chair of senior officers as a symbol of power.

Last month, the department of parliamentary affairs in Uttar Pradesh had directed all senior bureaucrats to make sure that the legislators who meet them also get chairs similar to theirs. This means that if the officer has a white towel on their chair, the MLA meeting them should too.

As per a report in the Hindustan Times, an emergency meeting was called by chief secretary Manoj Kumar Singh in response to the complaints over adherence to the towel rules.

In the emergency meeting called earlier this month was meant to ensure that the administrative protocol is followed.

“The legislators are given ordinary chairs and the officers sit on ones with white towels. If the officers cannot respect the legislators, how will they treat the people well,” the publication quoted Pankaj Malik, the Samajwadi Party MLA from Charthawal as complaining.

The publication also reported that the state secretariat in Lucknow changed 1,000 towels twice a week, most of which are white, except for Chief Minister Yogi Adityanth's, that is saffron.

“The practice is also followed across the police system and chairs of officers from station house officers (SHO) to the level of director general of police (DGP) are decorated with white towels,” HT quoted former DGP, Uttar Pradesh and former director general of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) as saying.

J P Singh, the principal secretary on October 7 issued a government order taking a note of the towel norms not being followed.

Singh noted that they did not receive any complaints regarding any violations.

"Action will be taken if the state government gets any reports of violation of protocol," he reportedly said.

However, Rajendra Chaudhary, Samajwadi Party MLC claimed that no changes were made even after the government order because the BJP did not believe in a democratic system.