As expected, former IAS Divya Mittal, who took voluntary retirement a month back, has announced to take a plunge in politics. However she maintained that she wanted to become voice of people without standing ‘under any flag'.
“Politics not with any party, but with the people.” She said the people who had supported her earlier would be part of her political journey.
A native of Haryana, Mittal said that she considers Uttar Pradesh as her “karmabhoomi”.
“I have been told nothing changes in this country, especially in Uttar Pradesh. But Uttar Pradesh has always shown the way.”
Seeking public support in a social media message, the 2013 batch former IAS said she took time to decide on her next step after resigning from the civil services.
“I resigned from IAS last month and left many questions behind. This is a big task, and I was gathering courage. Today I have come to answer. What next? The answer is politics,” she said.
Mittal said that her decision was driven by seeing the plight of conman man in close quarters when she was serving as an IAS officer.
She said that she was moved by a woman during an inspection in Lahuria Dah area of Mirzapur, where she served as district magistrate.
She said that woman came to her and asked for a school in her village.
“I was amazed to see a woman asking for a school when I expected her to ask for a pension or a house or a drinking water connection,” she said.
Mittal said that she sanctioned the school but to her plight the construction of the school could not begin even three years later.
“Everything was available, but there was no intent,” she said, adding that she wanted answers on such “invisible schools”.
On education and paper leaks, she asked if parents can now be certain that their children's future was secure. “I was an ordinary girl who got an opportunity, but what about today's children?” she asked. The objective, she said, is not to change a leader, but the nature of politics.
Vivek Shukla is a management graduate who has worked in corporate worked for 20 years and is now pursuing his passion — news.
