Chandigarh, February 19 Days after opposition parties questioned his presence at the Moga event on February 16, Punjab Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav on Thursday defended his attendance, saying it was a government function.
Yadav and Chief Secretary K A P Sinha came under fire from the Congress, BJP, and Shiromani Akali Dal for being present at the AAP government's anti-drug event on February 16 in Moga.
The rival parties' leaders accused the Bhagwant Mann government of politicising the bureaucracy.
Responding to the charges, Yadav said, "It was a government function. It was an anti-drug function. I would not like to say much on this."
Yadav was speaking to reporters in Jalandhar after inaugurating an Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) Jalandhar Range building at Police Lines there.
Yadav and Sinha had also addressed the gathering in Moga's Killi Chahlan village.
Besides Mann, the event was attended by the party's national convener, Arvind Kejriwal, and several cabinet ministers and MLAs.
Yadav, in his address, had shared the outcome of the ongoing anti-drug drive, 'Yudh Nashian Virudh', which began in March last year.
Criticising his presence, Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar earlier said, "Seeing the Chief Secretary and the DGP at an Aam Aadmi Party rally raises the question: are the 'steel frame' bureaucrats of India now bowing to political whims? Is this not a clear violation of the All India Services Rules?"
Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa noted that the presence of the state's highest-ranking administrative and police officers on a "political platform" raises serious questions about institutional independence.
"Civil servants are expected to function with impartiality and uphold constitutional values. Their visible association with a political event orchestrated by the Mann government and AAP leadership undermines public trust and weakens democratic institutions," Bajwa alleged.