The 2012-batch IAS officer Kannan Gopinathan from the Kerala cadre, who recently tendered his resignation in light of the restrictions placed by the Centre in Jammu and Kashmir following the abrogation of Article 370, has detailed the justification for his decision in an interview with The Indian Express.

Gopinathan maintained that he had not acted impulsively, saying “it was an emotional decision because I felt strongly about it and I wanted to speak out.”

He asserted that his decision was primarily based on his strong belief in the idea of freedom of expression, and that the resignation did not have anything to do with the actual move by the Centre to revoke J&K’s special status, stating that it was well within the government’s administrative powers to do it and only the judiciary could take a final call on the legitimacy of the decision.

When asked whether he planned to join politics in the future, Gopinathan said that there was nothing wrong with the idea, although he had not taken a call on it.

“Right now I felt this (resigning) is important. But I honestly have not thought about what to do next. I would like to take some time. One thing is clear that I want to remain connected with the people. I will look for an opportunity there. And why should anybody be against joining politics? Whether I join politics is not relevant, but young people should not create an impression (that) it is a bad thing (to join politics),” he said.