‘Deliberate excesses of government cannot be forgiven’
Former IAS officer Kannan Gopinathan, who resigned from his post in August this year, on Sunday said his resignation was a mark of protest against the failure of the nation and its institutions to oppose the open and brazen violation of fundamental rights spawned by the abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir.
“The situation demanded that I be a citizen of the country who can voice my opinion against the restrictions in Kashmir rather than a silent bureaucrat,” he said. Those who remain silent out of fear about the government’s excesses are the real anti-nationals.
Silence of media
“The palpable silence of the media and judiciary make the situation in Kashmir our failure as a nation rather than just the failure of the government,” said Mr. Gopinathan at a discussion on democracy in the country organised by the Kerala Samsthana Janakeeya Prathirodha Samithi.
Though governmental failures are inevitable, the deliberate excesses of the government cannot be forgiven. “The government is within its right to take a decision, but it cannot snatch the people’s right to react to that decision,” said Mr. Gopinathan, who had been serving as the secretary of Power, Urban Development and Town and Country Planning Departments of the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
Mr. Gopinathan explained the “whataboutery” he has faced in the aftermath of his decision to quit. The questions fired at him include why he did not resign protesting other issues and what anybody who was working in Dadra and Nagar Haveli can do about Kashmir. Such questions along with assigning motives to the resignation deflected attention from the real issue of violations in Kashmir, he pointed out.
He urged the people who wonder why they should care about the situation in Kashmir to think about a communication blackout in their own State. The country has infantilized the people of Kashmir in saying that a decision can be made on their behalf. “Our narrow concept of the nation stands in the way of our willingness to think beyond the traffic troubles in Ernakulam,” he said.