Kiran Bedi cancels an order issued by Chief Minister banning use of social media for official communications

As was anticipated, Union Territory of Puducherry has become the theatre of tussle between the elected government and Central Government appointee, Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi, who on Thursday cancelled the ban order on use of social media by government officials for official communications.

Kiran Bedi on Thursday nullified the latest order of Puducherry Government that asked officials not to use social media and platforms for official communications. Chief Minister V. Narayansamy had banned through an official order “Public Services – use of social media – instruction issued”.

Kiran Bedi, who uses social media extensively in her contact with government officials, on Thursday cancelled this order through a written order issued by her office. Some officials of the Puducherry government view this as direct interference with the elected government.

“If Puducherry has to be a progressive UT it cannot be retrograde in communications,” Kiran Bedi tweeted and posted her order cancelling the government order and tagged the PMO in her tweet. The government order is null and void with immediate effect, an order from Kiran Bedi’s office said and held that the earlier government circular banning social media use was in contravention of guidelines, rules and policies in force.

Reports of tension between the Chief Minister and Lt. Governor were circulating for the past few months. The Chief Minister did not take it very kindly, Bedi’s moves to interact with officials directly, sidestepping the elected representatives and the government duly elected by the people.

With the two important persons in Puducherry thus engaged in a war to assert their respective supremacy, which is also seen as an extension of the Congress versus BJP tussle, the officials are confused and are in a quandary.

The trigger for the current episode of the ongoing turf war was the suspension of a PCS official for allegedly posting an objectionable video in a WhatsApp group of the Lt. Governor. The official was suspended by Bedi after getting him detained by police for some time.

When Narayansamy got to know of this, he was furious and upset that the Lt Governor was stepping on the territory of the elected government and bypassing it completely. But he grabbed the opportunity and issued a ban order on government officials using social media for official communications, and thereby upsetting the communication channels built by the Lt Governor.

She has over the past several weeks, built a network of WhatsApp groups through which she keeps in touch with government officials and passes instructions through them, sources said. And this was resented both by the elected representatives, Ministers and even the government officials, who reportedly resented getting orders from two authorities.

The Chief Minister also got annoyed that the PCS official was suspended without his knowledge. But since the root cause of the suspension was misuse of social media, he immediately seized the opportunity and used it to his advantage.

The Lt Governor on Thursday undid this and cancelled the earlier ban order out on use of social media, triggering another spell of tension between the two constitutional authorities in this former French Colony.