New Delhi: Divya Mittal, the former Uttar Pradesh-cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer who recently took voluntary retirement, officially announced her decision to enter politics on September 29. While Mittal refrained from attacking or endorsing any political party – having declared that she will not stand under any party banner – a nine-minute video statement released on her X account served as a pointed commentary on the administrative functioning and failings of the Adityanath-led government under which she served.A 2013-batch IAS officer, Mittal received almost all of her key postings during the Adityanath administration, particularly during its second tenure. Mittal was serving as special secretary in the state’s revenue department when she tendered her resignation from the civil services. She had previously served as the district magistrate (DM) in Sant Kabir Nagar, Mirzapur, and Deoria. In Mirzapur, where she was posted from September 2022 to September 2023, she earned widespread recognition for navigating complex logistical hurdles to deliver clean piped drinking water directly to homes in the remote village of Lahuria Deh, where residents had depended entirely on water tankers. However, while the feat earned her public acclaim, it also drew the sharp ire of local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, who publicly complained after not being formally invited to the project’s inauguration ceremony.Also read: ‘Drive Taxis to Make Money’: UP Dy CM Pathak’s Advice to Youth Embarrasses Yogi Govt Ahead of PollsWhile announcing her political plunge, Mittal said that her primary ambition was to become the “voice of the people” and demand a comprehensive accounting of governance over the country’s 80 years of independence. She said her political karmabhoomi (the land where she would work) would be Uttar Pradesh. Although her criticism touched upon general political culture, particularly in Uttar Pradesh, her specific recollections as a senior official provided a rare inner glimpse into the state’s governance machinery. Drawing directly from her administrative career, Mittal cited instances demonstrating a lack of political and administrative will, arbitrary political interference, and systemic neglect of rural infrastructure. She also highlighted recurring competitive exam paper leaks and criticised the complete lack of official dialogue, institutional planning, or vision to prepare the youth for emerging employment challenges.Without naming individuals directly, Mittal revealed that immediately following her resignation in August, a spokesperson belonging to a major political party – identified in news reports as Uttar Pradesh BJP spokesperson and lawyer Prashant Umrao – tried to intimidate and discredit her by falsely claiming on social media that she had met secretly with a prominent Opposition leader (Rahul Gandhi) “under the cover of darkness” prior to quitting.“Where a lot of common people supported me, a big party’s state spokesperson wrote that I met another big party’s big leader in the dark of the night. That meeting never happened. The person who wrote this also knew this. But the aim was not to write the truth. The aim was to scare a woman who came out to ask questions on the first day,” Mittal said in her video address.The former bureaucrat further argued that such character assassination tactics formed part of a systematic effort to deter decent citizens from entering public life. “This is what these people do. Scare someone through FIRs. Scare others through trolling. So that the common person, the good people do not come into politics and their politics should continue like this. And we have to change this,” she asserted.Recalling her tenure as DM in Mirzapur, Mittal shared an anecdote about an elderly village woman who approached her with a plea to upgrade the local government school beyond class 5, as children were routinely forced to abandon their studies due to the lack of secondary facilities. Mittal noted how deeply moved she was by the woman’s prioritisation of education, even at a time when her own household lacked basic running water. Mittal explained that she personally examined the rules and formally sanctioned the school upgrade. Yet, three years after the approval was granted, construction on the school building has not even begun. “Now tell me what was not there? There was money, rules, and approval. But the only thing that was missing was intent. If there was intent, even the mountain would have given way. And when there was no intent, a file became a mountain. I want an account of those missing schools,” Mittal said.Also read: UP’s Panchayat Sahayaks – Earning Rs 200 Per Day – Launch Stir for Better PayShe also referred to an incident during her tenure as special secretary in the revenue department, where a landless, homeless man presented his documents to her. The man explained that an SDM had issued him a formal land allotment (patta) years earlier, yet he was never granted physical possession of the plot. Mittal recounted inspecting his file and discovering that the official field report denying him land was completely fabricated. Upon contacting an official of the concerned district, the official admitted the report was false, leading to the cancellation of the report and disciplinary proceedings against the person who prepared it. However, when Mittal attempted to physically hand over the allotted land to the beneficiary, district authorities repeatedly refused to execute the transfer, informing her that doing so was explicitly “upar se mana kiya hua hain (forbidden from the top)”.“Who is this top? The constitution says that there are people above everyone. So why does he have to wander here and there for justice? What is given from above is grace. And justice is a right,” Mittal argued.Addressing the issue of exam paper leaks, Mittal questioned whether the state was fulfilling its promise of a secure future to educated youth. “I was a girl from an ordinary family. This country promised me that if you study, you will grow. I studied and today I am standing in front of you. But what is the promise of today’s children, who are studying all night only to have the paper leaked? Prepare for five years and the matter ends up stuck in some court,” she lamented.Also read: UP Recruitment Scam and the Fate of 69,000 Teachers: Aspirants Talk About Their StrugglesMittal also drew attention to the crumbling state of rural infrastructure, pointing out the severe lack of good roads and bridges, the presence of hazardous potholes, and the casualties resulting from administrative apathy. She said that while government officials possess precise data on pothole locations, file numbers, and death statistics, they lack basic empathy and concern for human life. “And when there is no concern, then death is not an accident, but a decision. I want the account of those deaths,” she said.Another critical theme highlighted by Mittal was the government’s complete unpreparedness for rapid technological shifts, particularly Artificial Intelligence, and its impending impact on youth employability. She noted that while no government could be expected to possess immediate solutions, it was alarming that the government was not even acknowledging the question. “There could have been a thought. There is no institution where this is being discussed. No one is worried about the future our children are heading towards,” she remarked.Characterising contemporary politics as being defined by muscle power or bahubal, ceremonial foundation-laying ceremonies, and political clamour (satta or power, shilanyas or foundation stone laying, and shor or noise), Mittal argued that it completely lacked vision (soch). “The aim is not just to change one politician. We need to change the politics. The politics of will, the politics of justice. The politics of concern and the politics of thought. Not the politics that only counts people and wants to make them a ladder to reach government,” she emphasised.Mittal also spoke out strongly against the heavy reliance on money, muscle power, and caste and religious arithmetic (jati-dharm samikaran) in electoral politics, pledging that her public movement would shun these conventional strategies. According to her, decades of relying on such political equations have systematically held both the state and the country back from achieving genuine progress.Omar Rashid is an independent journalist.