Anil Tyagi | 13 Crore Lamps Of ‘Blessings’, But Who Bore The Expenses?

Decades ago, before India’s Independence, a Hollywood movie Gaslight captured the imagination of the masses. It was a story about the dimming of the lamps in an American household that allowed a husband to fool his wife. On September 17, 2026, as the nation celebrated the 76th birthday of Prime Minister Narendra Modi through ‘Aaashirwad Ka Diya’, or lighting of the lamps, there was no fooling around. It was an attempt to convince the masses, or the loyalists, that the BJP’s stranglehold was intact. It started as the party’s campaign, a call by the BJP’s president Nitin Nabin to light 25 crore diyas to mark Mr Modi’s 25 years in public life, from being Gujarat’s chief minister to an undisputed national leader. It quickly transformed into a mass event that was pushed and pulled by dozens of important civil servants across the nation.

Chief secretaries, district collectors, district magistrates and deputy commissioners led the campaign in several states. There were reports of 13 crore diyas that were lit nationally. Of these, 5.9 crore were ignited in Uttar Pradesh in its 75 districts, 1.5 crore in Chhattisgarh, and nearly 80 lakh in Haryana. Four chief secretaries in Assam (Ravi Kota), Bihar (Pratyaya Amrit, Haryana (Anurag Rastogi), and West Bengal (Manoj Agarwal) reportedly reviewed the event, and later communicated the successes to the upper echelons. Gorakhpur DM Deepak Meena, Rajnandgaon collector Jitendra Yadav, Thane collector Krishna Panchal, and Sonipat’s DC Neha Singh were involved. The cost of the diyas, ₹1 each, as well as the expenses due to oil, wicks, transport, mobilisation, publicity, venues, and official manpower, may total up to ₹50-75 crore. These are unofficial estimates, and no one knows who bore the costs, Centre or states. This lack of information may turn out to be brighter than the collective flames of the diyas.

Yogi’s trusted civil servants

For decades, the bureaucracy in Uttar Pradesh was scripted through the narratives of caste, cadre, and proximity to power. Under chief minister Yogi Adityanath, another layer was added, i.e., the concentration of key responsibilities with a small group of trusted senior civil servants. Chief secretary Shashi Prakash Goyal is the senior-most serving IAS officer and principal coordinating authority. With him is Sanjay Prasad, additional chief secretary, information and public relations, who is also identified by the state’s prosecution department as additional chief secretary, Home. Deepak Kumar is the infrastructure and industrial development commissioner. He is aided by Alok Kumar, additional chief secretary, and the duo together complement roles that enables the CM to fulfil his economic priorities.

When it comes to law and order, Rajeev Krishna is the director general of police, and is aided by senior officers such as Dhruva Kant Thakur, Jai Narayan Singh, Alok Singh, and Binod Kumar Singh. The latter occupy commands of Home Guards, economic offences, PAC, CID, cybercrime, and emergency response. The IPS state structure was drastically changed on September 19, 2026, when 35 officers were transferred across Commissionerate, districts, and specialised units, in cities such as Lucknow, Kanpur, Agra, Prayagraj, Gautam Buddh Nagar, and Varanasi. Tongues have started wagging that there is undue concentration of the Thakur community at the operational command level of the police force, particularly in the SHO/CO chain. Some astute observers link the changes, and concentration to the forthcoming assembly elections that are likely to be held in February-March 2027.

Who is the ‘Shah’ of Delhi’s bureaucracy?

Delhi has grappled with an unusual administrative paradox. It has an elected government, which is headed by the chief minister, BJP’s Rekha Gupta today. Yet, the bureaucracy answers to the Union Home ministry, which controls the bureaucratic cadre. Hence, in January 2026, it moved MCD commissioner Ashwani Kumar to Jammu and Kashmir, and inculcated Sanjeev Khirwar and Santosh D. Vaidya in Delhi. Chief electoral officer R. Alice Vaz was moved to Jammu and Kashmir, as was the case with IPS officer Mangesh Kashyap. On 24 February, 2026, the Home ministry shifted Sushil Singh to Mizoram, K.C. Surender to Puducherry, and Pranjal J. Hazarika to Jammu and Kashmir. This led to a Centre-Delhi confrontation, and the event happened days after Rekha Gupta took oath as the new CM. When the officers were not relieved by Delhi, the Home ministry declared them as “stand relieved” on April 15, and ordered them to join the new postings. A pertinent message went across. The AGMUT cadre, or the joint All-India Services cadre comprising Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram, and Union Territories (including Delhi), reported to the home ministry. Thus, May 2026 witnessed a larger bureaucratic shuffle of 42 officers from Delhi — Ashish Chandra Verma, ACS finance and revenue, went to Jammu and Kashmir; Anil Kumar Singh, ACS environment and forest, followed him; Sudhir Kumar went to Mizoram; K.M. Uppu to Puducherry, and; Sachin Shinde to Andaman and Nicobar. In July 2026, the Home ministry shifted a larger number, 21 IAS and 40 IPS officers. While Vivek Pandey, Garima Gupta, Pawan Kumar Sain, Amjad Tak, and Ajay Kumar Gupta were brought into Delhi, others were moved to AGMUT territories. Of course, CM Rekha Gupta could scramble the officers within Delhi, but not outside, as she did with 60 IAS and DANICS officers in June 2026, which included secretaries and seniors.

The writer is a senior journalist and alumnus of the Delhi School of Economics. He is the editor of gfiles, India’s first magazine on civil services and governance. @AnilTyagilive.