IAS officer has Centre hopping mad
Shah Faesal, the only IAS officer from Jammu and Kashmir to have ever topped the civil services exam, has rubbed the BJP dispensation on the wrong side with his sarcastic tweet on the rape culture in South Asia.
Facing disciplinary action of what he referred to as ‘rapistan,’ Faesal on Wednesday raised the decibel level further by questioning the action and asking whether government employees were expected to completely detach themselves from moral questions of the society, as anything could be interpreted as criticism.
Faesal, who is currently on study leave and an Edward S Mason Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School, also said that service rules with a "colonial spirit" were invoked in democratic India to "stifle the freedom of conscience".
The Department of Personnel and Training at the Centre has not taken kindly to the ‘rapistan’ comment wherein Faisal tweeted: "Population +patriarchy +illiteracy+ alcohol +porn + technology + anarchy = rapistan (sic)". In a notice to Faesal, the General Administration Department has said,
"You have allegedly failed to maintain absolute honesty and integrity in the discharge of official duty and thus acted in a manner unbecoming of a public servant."
The IAS officer, however, defended the post saying he had not criticised government policy. "If rape is part of government policy, then I plead guilty for criticism of the government policy," he tweeted.
A Twitter user asked Faesal if being part of a "colonial bureaucracy" meant lack of freedom and officials were just hired to function, get paid and retire.
"That's a fact. It actually works that way. But then that doesn't make participation in the government any less important for our lives. I leave but the show will go on," he added. Faesal, who had earlier made headlines when he topped the civil services exam, appeared dismissive of the notice issued to him.
"Love letter from my boss for my sarcastic tweet against rape-culture in south Asia. The Irony here is that service rules with a colonial spirit are invoked in a democratic India to stifle the freedom of conscience. I'm sharing this to underscore the need for a rule change," he said.
National Conference leader Omar Abdullah, meanwhile, came out in support of the IAS officer. "Looks like DOPT is determined to chase @shahfaesal out of the civil services. The last line of this page is shocking & unacceptable where they question Faesal's ‘integrity & honesty’. How is a sarcastic tweet dishonest? How does it make him corrupt?" he tweeted.