Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Joseph Vijay has lastly rolled again his choice to nominate astrologer Radhan Pandit Vetrivel as an Officer on Particular Responsibility, as reported by The Hindu, after the appointment drew criticism. The rollback didn’t include any acknowledgement that it risked mixing constitutional governance with an unscientific foundation for decision-making.
The issue with the appointment by no means lay in Vijay privately consulting an astrologer. Politicians throughout India is perhaps consulting astrologers, monks, religious advisers, numerologists, vastu consultants, and maybe sometimes even individuals who learn parrots pulling playing cards from tiny containers at railway stations. Indian democracy has survived all of this with admirable stamina. The issue started as soon as astrology appeared able to enter the chief minister’s workplace by way of an official designation carrying state authority, institutional legitimacy and taxpayer cash.
A chief minister’s workplace is meant to include individuals who can clarify budgets, legal guidelines, administration, media technique, public well being, infrastructure, or governance. Residents usually count on an Officer on Particular Responsibility to own experience related to governance and administration.
TVK’s defence made the controversy tougher to justify. After appointing Vetrivel as OSD, get together leaders defined that he was actually functioning as a media spokesperson and that his occupation was irrelevant, as reported by NDTV. By this logic, Tamil Nadu might theoretically appoint a dentist as irrigation adviser, a magician as finance marketing consultant, or a marriage DJ as constitutional skilled as a result of professions apparently carry no relation to tasks anymore. The argument stretched institutional logic to the purpose the place nearly any appointment might be defended so long as the designation sounded administrative sufficient.
