Kannan Gopinath said he had joined the civil service hoping that he would be the voice of voiceless. “But, it seems I have lost my own voice,” he said.
New Delhi| A young IAS officer, Kannan Gopinath (33) has left the country’s most prestigious IAS post. Reason? Because he feels the ‘fundamental rights’ of millions of people have been taken away by abolishing the special status of the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Kannan Gopinath, a 2012 batch IAS officer hails from Kerala. He was posted in the Union Territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli. He said he had joined the civil service in the hope that he would be the voice of those who were silenced. “But, it seems I have lost my own voice,” he said. Gopinath said that he wants his freedom of expression back.
Kannan was currently serving as Secretary in the Power and Non-Conventional Energy. He is the second IAS officer to resign from the IAS after the Kashmir cadre IAS officer Shah Faesal. It is said that he was unhappy with the current administrative functioning. However, he has not written anything about it in his resignation letter. Kannan had achieved 59th rank in the 2012 Civil Services Examination. He did electric engineering from Birla Institute of Technology. Before becoming an IAS, he was a design engineer in a private company.
Communication ban in Kashmir compelled him to resign?
In an interview given to a Malayalam website, he said that when one of the world’s largest democracies declares sanctions on the entire state and even violates the fundamental rights of the people, at least he should be able to answer. That is why he left the job.
He said that his resignation would not have any effect. However, he added, “If anyone asks me what was I doing when the country was going through a difficult time, I wouldn’t like to say that I took leave and went to America for higher education. It is better to quit the job.”
Kannan Gopinath came into limelight during Kerala floods
Kannan came into the national spotlight in the year 2018 during the severe floods in Kerala. He carried relief material on his shoulder and brought it to the people. His work was appreciated nationwide. Apart from this, during the Lok Sabha elections, he had complained to the Central Election Commission about political interference. He was then removed from the post of Collector of Silvassa.
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