Staining the Steel Frame:
The Character Assassination of Women Bureaucrats
To understand the depth of the pain currently simmering in Telangana’s administrative circles, one must first understand the journey of a young girl who dreams of becoming a civil servant. Becoming an IAS or IPS officer in this country is not merely about passing an exam; it is a penance. It involves locking oneself in a small room for years, missing every family wedding, forgetting festivals, and studying for eighteen hours a day while the rest of the world sleeps. For a woman, this battle is even harder. She fights not just the syllabus, but also a society that constantly questions her ambition, asking why she needs to study so much instead of settling down. When she finally cracks the toughest exam in the world, puts on that uniform, or sits in that collector’s chair, it is a victory not just for her, but for every girl who dares to dream. She stands there with dignity, ready to serve the nation. But today, in our state, a section of the media is trying to strip away that hard-earned dignity in seconds for the sake of a few clicks and TRPs.
The recent trend in the Telugu media of linking women officers to politicians is heartbreaking and exposes a very ugly side of our collective mindset. We seem unable to digest the fact that a woman can be powerful, successful, and capable purely because of her own brain and hard work. When a male officer gets a key posting, everyone discusses his skills, his previous records, and his efficiency. We call him a “tough officer.” But when a woman officer gets a similar high-profile posting, the whispers begin immediately. Instead of looking at her merit, people start asking, “Who is she close to?” We stop seeing her as an administrator and start seeing her only as a woman who must have used “influence” to get there. This is not journalism; it is a cruel character assassination that ignores decades of her hard work.
The situation hit a new low recently when a mainstream news channel broadcast a story questioning why a minister has “excessive affection” for a lady IAS officer, accompanied by cartoons and graphics that were in terrible taste. There was no proof, no official inquiry, just gossip masquerading as news. Reports even cited “family discomfort” and fabricated WhatsApp chats to make the story spicy, effectively dragging the personal lives of dignified officers onto the streets. This kind of reporting destroys lives. These officers have husbands, children, and elderly parents who watch TV. Imagine a child going to school and hearing classmates talk about their mother because of a fake news scroll on a TV channel. Is this the reward we give them for serving the public?
It is rare for bureaucrats to speak up because they are trained to be silent and resilient. But this time, the pain was too much. The Telangana IAS Officers’ Association had to step in and write a strong letter condemning these “malicious and fabricated” reports. They rightly pointed out that targeting women officers like this is an act of hatred against women. They have even demanded a public apology and threatened legal action because their morale is being crushed. When the people who run the state’s administration feel this helpless and insulted, it is a warning sign for our democracy.
The pain is not limited to the officers; it cuts across the political spectrum as well. We saw a senior politician, Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, break down in front of the cameras. It was shocking and sad to see a leader cry and say, “I died by half when my son passed away; please don’t kill us mentally like this”. He pleaded with the media not to drag honest officers and their families into political mudslinging. When we use a woman’s reputation as a weapon to settle political scores, we are committing a sin. We are telling every aspiring girl in this country that no matter how high she flies, society will always try to drag her down by her character.
This brings us to a critical demand for the State Government: Tolerance of such toxic journalism is akin to complicity. The government cannot afford to be a passive bystander while its top bureaucrats are mauled by the media mafia. If the state fails to protect the dignity of its own officers, why would any self-respecting bureaucrat want to work here? If this unchecked character assassination continues, we risk a ‘paralysis of governance’ where efficient officers will either hesitate to take bold decisions or, worse, seek transfers out of the state to save their honor. The government must wield the law to crush this toxicity. Zero tolerance for fake news is not an attack on press freedom; it is a necessary defense of the administration.
Finally, a word from us to you. We are journalists, but before that, we are humans. We have mothers, sisters, and daughters too. As journalists with social concern, we want to make a promise today: We will never allow these types of incidents to become the new normal. We will not stay silent when the pen is used as a weapon to hurt innocent women. Our ink is meant to write the truth, not to stain reputations. We stand with every honest officer, and we will continue to fight for a media that heals society, not one that poisons it.
- Purushotham Naragouni, Editro in Chief, Mobile: 8897388393
