New Delhi: Citing former Prime Minister
Rajiv Gandhi's observation that only 15 paise of a rupee
reached the deserving, Congress member Mani Shankar Aiyar
on Wednesday said he was "ashamed" of belonging to the bureaucracy
which was responsible for the situation.
"I am ashamed of belonging to the bureaucracy. If we see
them (bureaucracy) from the point of view Rajiv Gandhi's
statement," Aiyar said in Rajya Sabha during a debate on the
Appropriation Bill, 2011.
When his party colleague P J Kurien asked if he was
serious in saying that he was ashamed of belonging to the
bureaucracy, he emphatically said, "Yes, I am considering a
statement of Rajiv Gandhi."
He made the comment in the presence of Finance Minister
Pranab Mukherjee.
Aiyar was an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer before
joining politics and had served in Indian missions abroad.
Known to be a close aide of Rajiv Gandhi, he also served
as union minister in different Congress governments.
Aiyar made the statement in context of the fruits of
development not reaching grassroots level particularly in
Naxal-infested areas of the country.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, August 11, 2011, 17:49