Former IAS Kannan Gopinathan seems to get no respite from the government. After resigning as the Collector of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, in protest of the Centre imposed clampdown in Jammu and Kashmir, he has now been slapped with a fresh chargesheet filed by the Home Ministry on November 6.
The Ministry, that has not processed his resignation so far, has accused him for misconduct and misbehavior. The memorandum shared by Gopinathan on Twitter, sees him being accused of acting in a manner unbecoming of a government servant, which includes insubordination, adoption of dilatory tactics and dereliction of duty on various occasions.
https://twitter.com/naukarshah/status/1191916980888047620
Speaking to The Logical Indian Gopinathan said that the ministry first blamed him for discontinuing his service after his resignation and did not process his resignation. The media approached Gopinathan after knowing about his resignation. Gopinathan also took part in numerous prime time debates and discussions and took up the issue of Kashmir. He alleged that the Centre found his participation in debates detrimental to their image.
Without budging from his stance on Kashmir he said, ““I own up to the reason for which I resigned. We have detained youths, previous Chief Ministers, MPs and MLAs from Kashmir without any procedure for more than 90 days. This is happening in democratic India.”
Speaking about the government’s move on Kashmir’s lockdown he remarked, “They (the Centre) are saying that they are keeping the communication shut and Kashmiris in custody because they want to save lives. So, they are saying that the government is unable to provide ‘life’ and ‘liberty’ together. The basic message is, if I have to protect your life, then I have to take away your liberty. The government which forces you to choose either of them is a completely incompetent one.”
Gopinathan has urged the citizens to not lose their collective voice and commented that if this was the treatment being meted out to him after he’d left the service, he wouldn’t know what the government would have done to him had he dissented while being an working officer for the government.
Gopinathan is not the only person who has faced the wrath of the government for opposing its policies.
Earlier Shah Faesal too had resigned from service to float the Jammu & Kashmir People’s Party. He has been in detention under the Public Safety Act (PSA) since August, when the Modi government scrapped Article 370, revoking the erstwhile state of its constitutional status.
Sasikanth Senthil who put down his papers on September 6, resigned from his post citing that he could no longer continue in office when the “fundamental building blocks of democracy were being compromised in an unprecedented manner”.
Gopinathan, Faesal and Senthil’s resignations are nothing but a mirror to what is wrong with the current government. Dissent is quashed, honest officers are not given their due and the government is indulging in scare-mongering – booking false cases against people with an opposing voice.
Will Gopinathan, who has become the voice of millions, be end up being silenced?
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