S Sasikanth Senthil, an officer of the Indian Administrative Officer currently serving as the deputy commissioner Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka, has put in his papers. Following on the footsteps of Kannan Gopinathan who resigned last month over the lockdown in Kashmir, Senthil said he was disturbed about the manner in which Indian democracy was allegedly being compromised.
In a one-page resignation letter, Senthil, a Karnataka-cadre IAS officer said: “It is unethical for me to continue as a civil servant in the government when the fundamental building blocks of our diverse democracy are being compromised in an unprecedented manner.”
The officer said that the coming days would present extremely difficult challenges to the basic fabric of the country. “I would be better off outside the IAS to continue with my work at making life better for all. It simply cannot be business as usual anymore,” he added.
Senthil further clarified that the decision was a purely personal one. “It is in no way connected to anyone or any event in my current profile as the Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada district,” he said in the letter.
He, however, did not state what triggered him to take such a step. Senthil has now become the second IAS officer to quit from the coveted service within a month.
Last month, IAS officer from Kannan Gopinathan resigned from the service over the alleged ‘denial of freedom of expression’ in Kashmir. He too did not state the reason in his letter but spoke to the media after stepping down from the service. Kashmir is under complete lockdown following the abrogation of Article 370.
To avoid any backlash or untoward incident, the government snapped internet services and communication lines. Leaders were put under house arrest and a curfew was imposed in the state. Gopinathan said that revoking Article 370 was the right of the elected government but in a democracy, people have the right to respond too.
However, foreign minister S Jaishanker recently said that he wasn’t sure how could the government have opened the lines for the people and stopped for the terrorists at the same time. He was suggesting that the measures were taken to prevent threats from external sources.