Should civil servants flaunt credentials on twitter and instagram? My views on Abhishek Singh's dismissal as Gujarat Elections Observer

A few days ago, IAS officer, public servant and actor Abhishek Singh made this tweet and apparently a few other instagram posts which seem to have caused ECI to remove him as Gujarat Elections Observer.

Joined Ahmedabad as Observer for Gujarat Elections#Election2022 #GujaratElections2022 #NoVoterTobeleftBehindNovember pic.twitter.com/VRHUfxuqCI

— Abhishek Singh (@Abhishek_asitis) November 17, 2022

Today, Abhishek Singh tweeted that he accepts this with full humility but the matter has raised a lot of speculation and controversy. People are asking a very fundamental question: Should civil servants in India be allowed to flaunt credentials, the way a typical Youtuber or Tiktoker does?

I accept the Hon’ble ECI’s decision with all humility 🙏
Though I believe there’s nothing wrong in this post. A public servant, in a car bought by public’s money, reporting for public duty,with public officials, communicating it to the public. It is neither publicity nor a stunt! https://t.co/T89c1K6PMi

— Abhishek Singh (@Abhishek_asitis) November 18, 2022

I see this from a very nuanced perspective, there are many aspects to this, an important one being the clash of old and new, traditionalist and progressive schools of thought.

On one hand, there is this argument that civil servants must work in a "low key" manner, they are the public "servants" after all, not the "masters". I understand where this argument is coming from. There have also been many viral videos of misbehaving DMs and collectors during lockdown, isn't it?

But having said that, the world is also changing now. While the class divide between rich and poor (powerful and powerless) is still there, it isn't as prominent or marked as it used to be in the old Marxist world.

The digital age has brought the world together and leveled the playing field to a considerable extent, and continues to level it going further. If a famous Tiktoker or youtube influencer can flaunt their videos online then why can't bureaucrats? Just because they work for government?

Another way of looking at this is what other countries are doing. If you look at Republican and Democrat candidates in US, many of them appear to be full blown Youtubers and Insta celebs themselves! Having said that, politicians and actors in US also aren't idolized and turned to demigods like here. However, we must always strive to be more progressive and not regressive.

Yet another question that comes to mind is that how come politicians and MP/MLA are able to flaunt vidoes of their ribbon cuttings, etc. on social media? Doesn't the same rule of being "low key" apply to them? At least bureaucrats have risen the career ladders by passing rigorous and stringent civil services exams, not the (relatively easy) path of getting elected by the low IQ masses.

Finally, what I consider to be an important factor which everyone is ignoring here is transparency. Transparency of information is the sunlight that removes darkness of ignorance in the digital age and hence, its thriving must be allowed as the default state. If a civil servant wants to send a message through social media, I'm all ears and want to listen to them, but removing them from a post for doing it sends a very wrong signal, that's what I feel.

What do you think about this matter? Do let me know in the comments below.