Annamalai should raise voice when his party goes against Constitution: Sasikanth Senthil
IAS Officer who resigned last year says he has no right to speak about Shah Faesal
former Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada District, Sasikanth Senthil, a 2009 batch Karnataka cadre IAS officer resigned from the Indian Administrative Services (IAS) on September 6, last year. It has been one year for the former DK DC after resigning from the services, who has since been vocal about the attitude and approach of the government in dealing with the issues concerning the people of the country.
Senthil, who in his resignation letter cited “fundamental building blocks of the diverse democracy are being compromised” as the reason behind his move, has been a part of people’s movement across the country and has come together with several activists in raising their voices against the anti-democratic and anti-people policies of the current regime.
The coming days would present extremely difficult challenges in the basic fabric of the Nation. As such it would be better to be outside IAS to continue his work, Senthil had said after resigning.
September six marks one year of his resignation, Vartha Bharati caught up with the former IAS officer and discussed his one year outside the services, his plans, and a few other topics in an exclusive interview.
Here are the excerpts from the interview:
Q: How did you spend the last year after resigning from IAS?
A: Right from day 1, I have been trying to work for the cause, for which I decided to resign from IAS. I have been meeting people of a similar mindset to drive the idea. I have been moving around all over the country and have taken part in people’s movement.
Q: A section of people still believe that an officer like Sasikanth Senthil, shouldn’t have resigned from the IAS. Did you in the last one year had any such thoughts about your decision?
A: Yes. I did feel like that when the COVID-19 pandemic started. I had also sought apologies from the people of Mangaluru for resigning abruptly when I was the in-charge of the district administration. So when the Corona outbreak happened, I had this feeling, where I thought I should’ve been working in Mangaluru or any other district for that matter.
Q: An IAS officer can bring in a lot of change in the society. What do you think about this?
A: They can. There is no doubt about it. But why I resigned from the IAS was the current scenario. It’s a serious and unprecedented scenario that we are in. If I had waited and had decided to sustain to bring in the change, that I believe would have done irreparable damage. What I aspired as an IAS officer was to see people having a peaceful life. When that idea was put into question, I decided to resign. Otherwise, there are a lot of civil servants serving as IAS officers who are bringing in the change, a lot of officers are working tirelessly in the times of COVID-19 and are serving the country.
Q: Everybody advises youngsters to get into Civil Services and become IAS officers. What message will resignation from an officer like you’ve given to the youngsters of the country?
A: Youngsters should not take any message from my resignation. Being an IAS officer is the best job one can get in this country. Wherever I go, I try to inspire youngsters to take up civil services and I am ready to extend all the support that is possible from my side to the candidates who want to become IAS officers. My decision came based on a specific situation. If the youngsters want to take any message from the resignation, it should be that, more than your personal life and goals, a larger cause should be important for you.
Q: After you resigned from the IAS, there was a lot of movement about CAA, and NRC. Did you expect it before resigning?
A: I resigned because the foundation blocks of democracy were being compromised. Before we could come out of the move of abrogating Article 370 in Kashmir, the government came up with CAA and NRC. While resigning, I predicted in the coming days, the foundation of the democracy will be compromised in more ways, and that is how it panned out.
Q: In the context of your statement that the foundation of the democracy was being compromised, what changes do you expect in the country in the next 5-10 years?
A: There were two major problems in this country. One was caste and the other was class. And after a long-fought battle, the country has struck balance between the two. Now certain factors, who we can call fanatics, are trying to divide people into the lines of religion. Every religion has a section of people like that, no pinpointing any one religion. But as long as these people are not vested with powers, they are harmless as the majority of the people in the country are peace-loving.
But now, the country has vested power into these fanatics. This is a totalitarian regime that believes only people syncing with their mindset should stay in the country and others should be thrown out. They don’t like common man questioning them. With the new education policy, they are even manipulating education. But their ultimate goal is to change the constitution.
There is a misconception that they are against Muslims, Christians, and other minorities. That is not true, they are against secularism. They want to destroy the pluralistic fabric of the country. In the coming years, there will be more attacks on the pluralism of the country. No political party can question them because none of them are clean. So the onus is on the people of the country to question them.
Q: How are people conceiving your ideas? And how is their response?
A: It is good. People are convinced that this is not a regime that works for the people. We are trying to make them understand that Hinduism and Hindutva are two different things. Hinduism is a religion like any other religion. But Hindutva is a political project of Savarkar. The understanding among the masses is coming. So it’s a good response.
Q: Which incident in the last one year has pained you?
A: I was pained by the Mangaluru Police firing incident. I did not expect things to go to that extent. It was painful to see and I am very ashamed of it. Another tragic incident was the Delhi violence this year. We knew a section of people were trying to manipulate people’s movement but I never expected them to stoop so low.
Q: What changes do you want to bring in society? What do you think is the way forward to achieve it?
A: Abolishing hate politics from society. That is my first target. We should live in an India where the peace-loving people should get up and pray to Subramanya Swamy, our children should go to St. Aloysius College in the afternoon and then we should all celebrate Ramadhan Iftaar in the evening together. Mangaluru is one such place where this thing happens, we should bring this in other parts of the country to. I will do whatever I can to achieve this.
Q: There are rumors that you will join politics. Do you have any political aspirations right now?
A: I have no trust in any political party right now. They don’t take up issues concerning people, they have their agendas. If I want to do something on my own in politics, then it will take a lot of hard work and struggle. And it will be a long journey. I will think about it in the future, nothing for now.
Q: Do you think by entering politics one can change the political system?
A: Yes everybody can bring in the change. Recently we saw how Prashant Bhushan took a stand for himself when he knew what he was doing was right. Our country has a history of having people like Mahatma Gandhi. They did not do any politics. They only took stand for what is right and what concerns the people of this country. If that is what you mean by politics, then yes, everyone should get into politics. But electoral politics is a different ball game. But this is a democracy, and every individual’s opinions matter. So we should question the regime, sitting quite on issues concerning people in anti-national. So it is not important to get into electoral politics, speaking for what is right is important.
Q: Do you have any plans in collaboration with former IAS officer Kannan Gopinathan, who also similarly resigned from IAS?
A: There are a lot of people who are contributing to people’s movements. We resigned from IAS that’s why we get the hype. There are a lot of people who are fighting the hate and politics of hate in this country. We are all together in this. And the manpower in this fight against hate will only increase with time.
Q: What are your views of former IPS officer Annamalai recently joining BJP?
A: Annamalai is a good friend of mine, we have worked together as well. And I welcome his move of joining politics. Youth should join politics, irrespective of which party they choose to join. Our problem is the politics of hate and Annamalai knows the Constitution of India. I expect him to raise his voice whenever there will be politics of hate.
Q: Former IAS, Shah Faesal resigned from IAS, condemned the government, and is now once again planning to return to IAS. What are your views on this?
A: I am not the right person to talk about Shah Faesal because the people of Jammu and Kashmir have suffered a lot and for a long time. Imagine a democratic state being under lockdown for one complete year. We were under the lockdown for only three months and we are already so done with it. We do not know their sufferings, so it is not right for me to comment on it. He has the right to take whatever decision he thinks is in the best of his and the people’s interests. I will support him in whatever he decides.
Q: What are your plans and aspirations?
A: My plans are simple. I resigned from IAS to be with the people and to work for their welfare. Even now my aspirations are the same. I want to do everything I can to help people of this country, be their voice and fight for them.
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Sena (UBT)-MNS alliance announcement for civic polls likely next week
Mumbai (PTI): The Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) are likely to announce next week their alliance for the upcoming municipal corporation elections in Maharashtra, with seat-sharing for all the civic bodies, except Mumbai, almost complete, leaders of both the parties said.
Elections to 29 municipal corporations in Maharashtra, including the all-important Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), will be held on January 15, and the counting of votes will take place the next day.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) and the MNS will forge an alliance for the polls in municipal corporations of Mumbai, Thane, Mira-Bhayandar, Kalyan-Dombivli, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Pune and Nashik, among others.
The Sena (UBT) is headed by former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, while his once-estranged cousin Raj is the president of the MNS.
"Talks for all civic bodies, except Mumbai, are complete. The sticking point is about the seats that we are demanding in Marathi-dominated areas. The Shiv Sena (UBT) is not still not agreeing to it which has delayed the seat-sharing. But the talks have to be over soon since the date of filing nominations starts next week (December 23 to December 30)," an MNS leader said.
Talking to reporters, MNS leader and former MLA Nitin Sardesai said, "It is appropriate to say that the talks are in final stages but it is difficult to say when it will be officially announced. I can only say that all sides are putting efforts to complete the talks and they are working towards it."
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Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Anil Parab met Raj Thackeray to discuss seat-sharing.
A Sena (UBT) leader said talks are in final stages and there is no hurdle in the seat-sharing agreement.
"The two brothers are expected to officially announce the alliance between the two parties on Monday in a public event or through a press conference that will set the tone for the civic body polls," he said.
Raj Thackeray quit the undivided Shiv Sena blaming Uddhav for his exit in 2005 and floated the MNS in 2006. They had been political rivals since then.
However, after the drubbing of their parties in the Maharashtra assembly polls in 2024 - the Sena (UBT) won 20 seats, while MNS drew a blank - both leaders decided to put behind their political acrimony and find a common ground for survival.
Over the past few months, the two cousins shared the stage or were spotted at public forums together multiple times for various reasons.
The cousins publicly ended their two-decade-long estrangement in July, where they addressed a joint rally. At the event, Uddhav said they have come together to stay together.
