Preferred freedom of speech to civil service: Kannan Gopinathan

Fundamental rights of 80 lakh people have been clamped down without announcing emergency

A 33-year-old Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, Kannan Gopinathan has quit the coveted government job stating he was “disturbed” over the curbs in Jammu and Kashmir. Kannan Gopinathan is a 2012 IAS officer from Kerala posted in Dadra and Nagar Haveli as Power and Non-Conventional Energy Secretary. He was lauded for his work during the 2018 Kerala floods.

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Gopinathan said after his resignation “I joined civil service with the hope that I can be the voice of those who have been silenced. But here, I lost my own voice.” He said, ‘we are not able to voice out freely regarding situation in Kashmir. This is the worst social and political situation after emergency. Fundamental rights of 80 lakh people have been clamped down without announcing emergency. Most of us don’t know what’s happening in Kashmir. I don’t want to have guilt of not doing anything on the violation of rights, hence I resigned.

Maintaining that his wife has openheartedly supported his decision, Kannan said I will not tell where they are, because of sense of insecurity. He expressed fear that people may ruin his wife’s career in retaliation.

The level of insecurity which I face while serving my duty, will you say it is democracy? Asked Kannan.

As reported by an Urdu newspaper, Kannan said that civil service was never his dream, his dream was to serve people. ‘When you feel that the way you have adopted won’t help you fulfil your dream, then there is no way but to change the path’ he said.