By Special Correspondent
Bhopal: In a strongly worded press statement issued on Monday, Engineer Sudhir Nayak, President of the Mantralaya Officers and Employees Association, condemned an “extremely objectionable” remark allegedly made by senior IAS officer Santosh Verma, the newly elected provincial president of the AJAKS organisation.
Nayak said the statement was made during AJAKS’s provincial convention held on Sunday at Ambedkar Maidan, Tulsi Nagar, Bhopal. According to him, Verma declared that reservation should continue until a Brahmin offers his daughter to his son or enters into a relationship with him. Calling the remark “highly derogatory” and an insult to the entire upper-caste community, Nayak said such statements were unbecoming of a senior civil servant.
He emphasised that marriage is a matter of personal choice and entirely private. “No oneleast of all parents can legally decide whom an adult should marry. A daughter is not an object to be donated,” he said. Nayak added that inter-caste marriages, including those between reserved and unreserved categories, have become increasingly common, citing several well-known examples, including Dr B.R. Ambedkar’s marriage to Savita Ambedkar and Ram Vilas Paswan’s marriage to Reena Sharma.
Nayak argued that linking marriage to the reservation debate was both illogical and inflammatory, revealing “a lack of real arguments” in support of reservation by those making such claims. He said that while previous AJAKS presidents had spoken in favour of reservation, none had targeted daughters of any community.
Describing AJAKS as an employees’ organisation, Nayak said its conventions should focus on service-related issues, not personal matters such as marriage. He warned that such remarks deepen social divides and harm societal harmony.
Nayak demanded that the government initiate appropriate action against Verma under IAS Conduct Rules. He also urged AJAKS members to reconsider whether a person making such comments should remain their provincial president.
