1994 batch IPS Officer and former commissioner of police of Kanpur Nagar, Asim Arun, made a tryst with history by becoming the first direct Indian Police Services officer to find a place in the Council of Ministers of Uttar Pradesh. Arun was sworn in as a Minister of State with independent charge in the Yogi Adityanath Government’s council of Ministers which assumed charge for a second consecutive term in Lucknow on Friday.

Arun is the second Dalit (Jatav) officer of the elite IPS cadre who was given prominence by the Bharatiya Janata Party and made a minister.

Earlier, Arun’s mentor and former UP DGP Brij Lal, also a Dalit officer, had joined the BJP soon after his retirement and was made a Rajya Sabha member by the saffron outfit. In 1996 too, a police sub-inspector, Satya Pal Singh Baghel, had quit his job to join politics and went on to become a four-time MP. He first joined the Samajwadi Party, then switched over to Bahujan Samaj Party before finally shifting to the BJP and becoming a Union Minister in the Narendra Modi Government.

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He also contested the recent assembly election against SP chief Akhilesh Yadav from Karhal seat (Mainpuri) but got a drubbing.

Like Arun, another 1980 batch IPS officer and former Mumbai Police Commissioner, Satya Pal Singh, had opted for voluntary retirement and is a two-time MP from Baghpat and finds a place in the Modi council of ministers at the Centre.