New Delhi: Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday urged government officials to carry out their duties without letting their religious affiliations cloud their judgement and to uphold secularism in their conduct, the Telegraph reported.Siddaramaiah was addressing centenary celebrations of the Karnataka Administration Services Association in Bangalore. “Religion exists. But religion and government have no connection,” he was quoted by the paper as saying.“Government officials should not intervene in political matters and religious issues. Our Constitution has made this very clear. It (the Constitution) very clearly upholds secularism,” he added.His strongly worded advice is in line with the Congress government’s efforts to cleanse the bureaucracy, sections of which the party had accused of becoming a tool in the hands of the previous BJP dispensation, the Telegraph report said.Siddaramaiah and his deputy D.K. Shivakumar had also warned the state’s top police officials against saffronisation.At the centenary event, the Karnataka chief asked officials to work within the framework of the Constitution, adding that it is everyone’s responsibility to protect it. “If you protect the Constitution, the Constitution will protect all of us,” he was quoted by the Telegraph as saying.“The educated should be rational (human beings) and not be advocates of the caste system. Only then can we bring about changes in society,” he noted.Siddaramaiah has carried forward the cause of Ahindas for social justice – a concept developed by Congress leader and then chief minister Devraj Urs in the early 1970s and has had socialist leanings since he was a student, the Telegraph report said.“Introspect your responsibilities. While it is we, the politicians, who frame laws, you are the ones who implement them as you work between the people and the government. If you work for the people, even we earn a good image,” Siddaramaiah was quoted by the Telegraph as saying.“There are lots of good government servants. But there are some who are not. Under no circumstances should you engage in anti-people and anti-farmer activities,” the chief minister said.