In August, Tiruchirappalli district Superintendent of Police (SP) V Varun Kumar and his wife Vandita Pandey, SP of Pudukkottai, announced they would stay away from social media after being subjected to intense cyberbullying.
Kumar alleged that operatives of a small political party, Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK), were targeting him and his family after he filed a defamation suit against its leader Seeman and a complaint against three members of the party.
In a long post in Tamil on X, he called out cyber bullies who “threaten to kill children and who portray women in an obscene manner through fake accounts”. He also wrote about his intention to go after his online bullies.
Kumar isn’t exactly among the biggies on social media. But his is a cautionary tale on how the good, the bad and the ugly on social media can affect government servants.
His is also the sort of experience that should trigger a note of caution to a growing tribe of social media-savvy bureaucrats who carry the influencer tag as easily as they wear influence on their sleeve.
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These are officials who eschewed the red beacon-adorned cars for that more modern slice of pop culture: an Instagram post.It’s not uncommon to see posts from civil servants featuring their official vehicles or a retinue of police personnel.Some police officers have even taken it a notch higher, using reels and posts to cast themselves as larger-than-life, exuding an aura of invincibility.
This has made many, particularly in the senior rungs, quite uneasy.
Should a bureaucrat or an officer, usually seen as the person in the background, put themselves out there? Or, should they, like any other profession, embrace the tools of today to be closer to people?
The spotlight
While the laggards hustle to boost their follower counts, there are growing instances where even politicians feel overshadowed by savvy bureaucrats in the spotlight.
Take, for instance, the promotion of IPS officer Manoj Sharma, whose life inspired the film 12th Fail.
When he announced on Instagram that he was promoted as inspector general of police in April, it sparked a flood of 4,000 congratulatory messages. Sharma, currently serving with the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) on deputation from the Maharashtra cadre, commands a following of over a million on Instagram.
Other bureaucrats with substantial followings include 2016 batch IAS topper Tina Dabi, who boasts 1.6 million followers on Instagram and 472,000 on X; Tripura cadre IAS officer Sonal Goel with 798,000 Instagram followers; and Bihar cadre IAS Pradeep Singh, a young sub-divisional magistrate, with 477,000 Instagram followers. For this story, ET has only factored in accounts that are public.
When Dabi shared a photo of herself wearing glasses, accompanied by the simple caption, “Hello December”, with an upside-down smiley, it garnered over 1,200 comments on Instagram. Some greeted her with “Jai Bheem”.
The backlash
The social media fame of certain officers has also sparked political backlash.
Last year, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma publicly reprimanded Anand Mishra, the then SP of Lakhimpur district, for his frequent media interactions and social media presence.
Mishra, a 2011 batch IPS officer from the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, resigned from service and fought as an independent candidate in the Lok Sabha elections from his home constituency Buxar, in Bihar, without success.
“When I became a very popular officer, a jealous ecosystem started working against me. I was told to be faceless,” he says.
“I have never bought any followers. While in service, my senior asked me how much money I had spent in buying social media followers. I requested him to contact Meta [the parent company of Facebook and Instagram] and Twitter [now X] and get the data, if he did not believe me,” says Mishra.
Mishra has 526,000 followers on Instagram, 301,000 on Facebook and 104,000 on X. “Social media is a digital extension of one’s social life. As long as bureaucrats use it ethically, the government can’t stop it,” he adds.
That is not how many see it.
“The basic tenet of bureaucracy is selfefficacy and anonymity. Self-publicity is a big no-no,” says Vikram Singh, former chief of Uttar Pradesh Police. “There are conduct rules for civil servants. But more than the rules, officers should be aware that publicity stunts are viewed in very poor taste.”
In the wake of a recent controversy surrounding the selection of an officer trainee in the disability quota, senior Telangana cadre IAS officer Smita Sabharwal ignited further debate with a provocative tweet. She questioned the inclusion of differently abled individuals in premier services, asking, “Does an airline hire a pilot with a disability? Or would you trust a surgeon with a disability?”
With her substantial following of 445,000 on X, her comment quickly sparked a backlash. Critics said her stance undermined the efforts to promote diversity and inclusion. It also raises another question—did she breach conduct rules?
Rules of engagement
While the Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules of 1964 provide clear guidelines to officers on media interactions, the rules around social media remain ambiguous. It’s understood that serving officers must refrain from criticising the government, even anonymously, but there’s no clear directive on whether an officer in uniform can post photos on social media. For instance, is an officer allowed to share a picture with their official vehicle?
The ambiguity persists on whether an officer, like Sabharwal, can publicly question an existing government policy.
“Social media is social, not official. Bureaucrats should avoid posting anything official in their social media handles,” says OP Rawat, former chief election commissioner.
Things are starting to be codified. In June, Uttar Pradesh issued a circular outlining guidelines for bureaucrats’ interactions with the media. This extended the existing conduct rules to social media platforms, too, specifically Facebook, X , WhatsApp, Instagram, and Telegram.
When asked about the subtleties of such guidelines, former UP top cop Singh says: “If an officer bakes a cake and shares it on social media, that’s fine. If someone paints, posting those creations is acceptable. But an officer conducting an inspection and portraying a Singham-like image is unacceptable.”
In November 2022, in the r un-up to the Gujarat assembly polls, the Election Commission of India (ECI) relieved Abhishek Singh, a 2011 batch IAS officer from the UP cadre, from his duties as a general observer.
This followed his Instagram and X posts featuring photos with his official vehicle, which the ECI labelled as publicity stunt. Abhishek Singh was ordered to leave Ahmedabad and report to his parent cadre. While accepting the ECI’s decision “with all humility”, he defended himself on X, stating, “There is nothing wrong in this post… It is neither publicity nor a stunt.”
Abhishek Singh, who resigned from the IAS in February this year, was the most followed Indian bureaucrat in social media, boasting over 5 million Instagram followers, partly due to his playing a role in a Netflix series, Delhi Crime. “Bureaucrats are here to serve people, so people’s opinions matter a lot. Social media is an effective tool to disseminate information and receive feedback,” Abhishek Singh tells ET, adding that his follower count in social media has grown organically. “I come from a small town called Jaunpur in eastern UP. Youngsters see me as one of their own.”
Former CEC Rawat believes that posting a photo with an office vehicle or in an office chamber may not attract a penalty under normal circumstances, but during an election, observers are instructed to avoid any media interaction unless authorised.
“Social media is also media. Posting a photo with one’s official car during elections is a violation. Bureaucrats may even lose their job,” he warns.
Finding the balance
Several serving officers, including those representing civil services associations, have declined to comment.
However, a young IAS officer from the 2020 batch says the addiction to social media begins right at the academy in Mussoorie. “Probationers create Instagram reels that become a hit.”
While some resource persons discuss the judicious use of social media, officer trainees remain confused due to the emphasis on leveraging social media for government publicity and countering misinformation, he explains, requesting anonymity.
He also observes that young officers often attract more followers because IAS and IPS aspirants see them as role models. Ansika Verma, selected for the IPS three years ago, has 442,000 Instagram followers despite not posting regularly.
Requesting anonymity, a senior officer says political leaders are becoming aware that some officers are taking credit for policies, leveraging both conventional and social media. “I’ve heard politicians expressing reservations about popular bureaucrats posting ribbon-cutting ceremonies on social media. There have also been instances of officers using PR agencies to boost their social media outreach,” he says.
It’s time for Indian bureaucrats to draw the line between reel life and real life.
