The bureaucrat says it can turn out to be a blunder like demonetisation
“We have failed Jammu and Kashmir as a nation. The civil society, opposition parties, judiciary, media and the citizens chose to remain silent when the government imposed a decision on the people of the Valley against their will. There is no coming back when we fail a population as a whole,” says Kannan Gopinathan, the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer who recently quit the services over the restrictions imposed in Kashmir.
A fierce critic of the Centre’s move to abrogate Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, Mr. Gopinathan elaborated on his stance at ‘Dialogue on Democracy’, a discourse that was organised at the College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram, on Thursday.
Reason for decision
Explaining his decision to resign from Civil Services, the former bureaucrat said the Central government’s decision went against the Indian Constitution. “The people of Kashmir were not consulted prior to implementing the move. There are not even allowed to react to the decision that concerned their State. Under the circumstances, I did what I could as an individual. While bureaucrats are expected to executive the political will through legally accepted means, I believe they must also true to their moral conscience as well as the Constitution,”he said.
Mr. Gopinathan lashed out at attempts to dub the abrogation of Article 370 a historic move. “A decision becomes historic only when it achieves its targeted goals. The move could turn out to be a blunder akin to the demonetisation, following which almost all of the banned currency came back into the system. Terrorism has not gone down as was touted and the informal economy is in tatters,” he said.
Sedition case
Shashi Tharoor, MP, said while the Bihar police had closed the sedition case registered against 49 personalities who highlighted the issue of mob lynching, the mentality of those who lodged such complaints must be examined. He added that the directive issued by a Chief Judicial Magistrate court to file the case was yet another shocker.
Kerala State Literacy Mission Authority director P.S. Sreekala also participated in the discussion. Former bureaucrat Sarin P. moderated the session. The programme was organised by IAS Hotspot.