No place in Modi government for independent voices: Congress on revocation of IIPS director's suspension after he resigns

The Modi government has no place for independent and professional voices, the Congress alleged on Monday as it hit out at the Centre over the reported revocation of suspension of IIPS Director K S James after he tendered his resignation. The remark by Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh came over a media report which claimed that the Union government has revoked the suspension order of James and accepted his resignation from the post of the Indian Institute of Population Sciences (IIPS) director.

In a post on 'X', Ramesh said, "Earlier this year, I had expressed disgust at the way this fine scholar was being treated by the Modi government - the only fault of his was the data collected by an independent institution under his leadership was inconvenient to the Modi government."

"The Modi government first suspended him on July 28 on the flimsiest of charges. Then Dr. James himself resigned on August 7th. Now, the revocation of his suspension three months after is a face-saving charade by the government, although it is welcome that his honour is preserved," the Congress general secretary said.


But his premature and forced resignation is a "big blow" to the world of demographic scholarship," Ramesh said.

The Modi government has no place for independent and professional voices, he added.

"All it wants is drum-beaters. Eventually, the credibility of our institutions and governance suffers," Ramesh said.