Gentleman's Calm and Response: Sanjay Kundu Shows How to Speak Softly And Yet Carry Big Stick

Sanjay Kundu, IPS officer 1989 batch and a thorough gentleman who knows how to be calm and battle storms silently. Kundu's case, on one end, is an unfortunate story of political hunting, but on the other, it serves as a glaring case of perfect crisis response management without stirring the hornet nest and creating a hyperbole.  Kundu's case perhaps also explains DGP's silent grit, which most IPS officers tend to lose and attempt to sensationalize the issue to gain sympathy and support, which often leads to messy outcomes.  Narrow politics with IAS and IPS officers is the sad reality of today's bureaucracy, but this sad reality tests every bureaucracy's endurance and capabilities. Top sources say that "Reputational damage is unacceptable, especially when an officer enjoys the rare luxury of a clean image such as Sanjay Kundu. The High Court's observation of "ignoring reputation at stake for the sake of investigation" suffers from error for two reasons. 1) the case was not extraordinary, 2) DGP's role is assumptive/vague and, to some extent, circumstantial, and this very fact could have easily been investigated without much noise. Supreme Court in its order is very clear that "serioous consequences follow for removing an IPS officer as DGP" that too on vaugue charges. Acting without strong proof is an assault on DGP's reputation. Reputation deserves to be at stake if an officer has committed genuine blunders/errors or acted with malafide intent. Top sources add that the state government had made DGP's office a hunting ground without reasons". The government of the day must realise that such hunting will weaken institutional credibility, which, for obvious reasons, won't go in anyone's favour. With three months left for Kundu, fighting a war to maintain a clean image became necessary. Such precedents for DGPs are dangerous, if such things started to take a trend then DGP's office in any state would loose confidence and public-police relationship would soon started to decay. Professional behaviour and political hunting must be distinguished because the lines between them are becoming blurred. Before retirement, Sanjay Kundu taught a good lesson to every IPS officer that integrity, values and professionalism must not be threatened or compromised. Therefore, Sanjay Kundu resonates with the famous saying of former US President Roosevelt- "Speak Softly But Carry A Big Stick You Will Go Far."