Friends, I came to know of Sri Sanjay Pandey, an ex IIT Kanpur graduate and an IPS officer of Maharashtra (1986 batch) and his topsy-turvy ride in the police service. I also came to learn about his actions and visions which I found certainly different from the usual run-of-the-mill stuff. One of his interviews, on Rediff.com, I found particularly impressive. More so because here was a rare person who openly said that he wants to join politics. When the person who probed the shoe scandal, in which supposedly millions of rupees meant for cobblers were allegedly siphoned off by politicians, bureaucrats and shoe manufacturers, says in no uncertain words- "I want to be a politician. It will happen", all my good wishes seem to flow for this man, who is honest to himself and to the world. More often than not I have seen people including many retired and serving IAS and IPS officers saying they have nothing to do with politics and the very next day they come and join one political party or another. And this openness and frankness where even after the results of the elections are over, a politician is usually seen coming up with statements like- "Let us wait and watch. We have all options open." Again look at another of his statement- "Then I realised that being a government servant is like being a servant only." How many of us are frank enough to openly admit a fact that is so brazenly true. It is this openness and frankness of this person, along with his work at Dharavi, which really made a huge impact upon me. The same thing was said in a 26 May 2003 report of the Mumbai Times of India which said- "Ten years after he came into the limelight by his deft handling of the post-Babri communal situation in Dharavi, Sanjay Pandey wants to return to Asia's largest slum." It also added- "Mr Pandey, from the 1986 IPS batch, is still remembered in Dharavi as an officer who sided with the poor and did not hesitate to arrest anyone who he felt was in the wrong." But then the newspaper report also deftly added- "Several of Mr Pandey's friends are surprised by his decision as they feel he is too straightforward to be a politician." To this the Article quotes Mr Pandey- "People say I am being foolish, but I will say I have dared to do what others only talk about,''. I salute this frankness, openness and straightforward nature. One rarely finds such kind of open and straight-forward behavior coupled with such daring and pro-public/pro-poor acts quite too often.
Amitabh Thakur IPS, IIM Lucknow # 94155-34526
