Asem Mohiuddin
Last week when the news about the resignation of 2010 IAS topper travelled across it was hard for common people to believe. It is unlikely to see any person who had achieved what an ordinary person only dreams gives up and chooses another most difficult path to traverse. Traditionally, lots of people who have been at top ranks in the bureaucracy of country have resigned just months before their retirement and trigger frivolous controversies to stay in news to claim another green pasture for the rest of their lives. However, Faisal proves different and left the career midway where he could have even been once heading the entire bureaucracy of state. Faisal was New Delhi’s poster boy in 2010 for Kashmir which was reeling under huge unrest over the killing of three civilians by army men in North Kashmir village.
The killings had triggered a widespread summer uprising and New Delhi had literally failed to control the crowds swarming into the streets demanding strong action against accused army men. Shah Faisal’s remarkable achievement and securing the top position in the Indian Administrative Services same year offered New Delhi a breather after projecting him as an inspirational icon for the thousands of youths who were battling the security forces on the streets with bricks and stones.
While there have been poor instant dividends to the campaign launched by National Media and projecting Faisal as poster boy, however, his success set the narrative in Kashmir for a long run. Hundreds of youths in Kashmir, down the line of ten years are seen appearing in the coveted exams. Every year rather dozens of youth qualify the exams and join the top bureaucracy of country. Eventually Faisal proved effective in steering a sustaining effort to imbibe youth towards coveted exams. It drifted a shift also in Kashmir’s traditional thinking of manufacturing doctors and engineers only, no matter at what cost.
Meanwhile, Faisal throughout stayed in the news as a bureaucrat for some or the other reasons. Sometimes comparing him with the Kashmir militancy’s poster boy Burhan Muzaffar Wani by National media irked him and accused media of risking his life in the strife torn Kashmir. In 2016 after a consistent campaign by national media for comparing him to Burhan who was killed same year by security forces and had triggered valley wide unrest prompted him to speak vociferously. He even threatened to resign from the job citing security reason and comparisons illogical.
However, this did not end here. Faisal continued to speak critically on issues pertaining to economy, politics and life at both regional and national level. He was sought an explanation in 2018 by Government of India after he called India as “rapistan” in his tweet.
He criticized the use of force by security agencies that resulted into civilian killings. Faisal cited same reasons for his resignation now and said that India over the past few years has become an “intolerant country.”
According to him, he is in search of space and platform where he has freedom to speak on issues he chooses.
“The country is growing intolerant. The youth feels suffocated and have no space to speak out. India’s 200 million Muslims are marginalized and reduced to second class citizens,” he said.
“I wish to remind the regime of the day that subversion of public institutions like RBI, CBI and NIA has the potential to decimate the Constitutional edifice of this Country and it needs to be stopped. I wish to reiterate that voices of reason in this country cannot be muzzled for long and the environment of siege will need to end if we wish to usher in true democracy,” he added further.
The future
Shah Faisal, though earlier it was speculated that he will join the regional political party National Conference, he put all the speculations to rest in the recently held presser.
The speculations of his entry into NC were in air after National Conference Vice president and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah tweeted over his resignation and welcomed him in the fold.
“Bureaucracy’s loss is politics gain. Welcome to the fold,” Omar reacted to his resignation on twitter.
It was believed that NC will field him from North Kashmir’s Baramulla constituency as a parliamentary candidate.
Following the severe criticism on social media over his possible decision of joining any existing political set up Faisal denied any such reports.
“I have no such intentions of joining any existing political forum. I am in search of space where I can have viewpoint and speak against the issues that I feel are important for the human well being. I will represent the aspirations of people,” he told media in a press conference.
Faisal is convinced by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejrival who shot to fame over night and became Delhi’s Chief Minister after picking up public issues and attacked main two political parties Congress and BJP. He is also admired by the sustained efforts of Pakistan Premier Imran Khan who stood to ground for over two decades before becoming Prime Minster last year. Khan had sustained his position as main political leader after attacking ruling class for corruption and misusing public offices.
Kashmir is facing the same situation and is craving for a peoples’ leader who could rather address the public grievances.
Dilemma
While the intentions and competence of Shah Faisal is undisputed, however little he knows that he has landed in one of the most challenging political spaces of world. The conflict ridden geography has so far lost over one lakh lives to India-Pak dispute over the region.
Faisal will be caught into the same mud. The people in Kashmir have short psyche of political narratives and often take slides with the passing winds. The elections are often fought on popular and political narratives in Kashmir where the general sentiment is accession to Pakistan or freedom. Claiming to represent the common aspirations of people by young man may achieve him some dignity in the estranged class of people in valley and may gain the popularity, however, that will be unbecoming for him to achieve while sitting in the Indian parliament.
Seeking reservations, empowerment for minorities welfare schemes has plethora of possibilities for Shah Faisal to discuss in Indian Parliament but the general aspiration what Shah Faisal talks about to represent is a distant dream that may ever Indian Parliament allow to discuss.
Truth has become the first causality of Kashmir conflict and being the man of system what he rightly said may sometimes pose him severe challenges in Kashmir as political leader. His political journey may not be a cakewalk for him but full of thorns.