'What governments have been doing -- in civil service, journalism, business, everywhere -- is making it difficult to do the right thing.'
'Media now ask themselves: "Is it feasible for us to do this story? Will this make our life difficult?"'
'The government should make it easier for people to do the right thing and harder to do the wrong thing. Right now, it's the opposite.'
Former IAS officer Kannan Gopinathan, who joined the Congress on October 13, articulates his biggest fear: That India is witnessing a systematic shift from citizenship to subjecthood, where asking questions of authority has become increasingly difficult across states, regardless of which party is in power.
Six years after his resignation from the IAS and extensive travels across India later, Gopinathan's concerns have deepened as he explains in this must-read interview with Prasanna Zore/Rediff.
What do you consider the biggest challenges to democracy and governance in India today, given your extensive travels since 2019?
My biggest concern is that we're moving back from being citizens to subjects. This is happening across the spectrum -- not just at the central level. You need to be worried regardless of which party is ruling.
I see two kinds of forceful negotiations happening.
First, the relationship between the majority and the minority is being renegotiated.
Second, the relationship between the citizen and the State is changing.
These two often go hand in hand -- the State aligns with the majority and they together operate against the citizen who is a minority.
But even in places where the State isn't aligning with the majority, the State versus citizenship relationship is still worsening. That's crucial because for a strong nation where citizens can dream and achieve their dreams, the prerequisite is strong citizenry.
Try asking a question, go to a district, a village, or a mohalla and question authority: 'You are wrong' or 'I don't agree with you.' The response is often, 'How dare you?'
These questions have become increasingly difficult to ask. The attitude becomes: 'We'll give you something, take it, keep quiet.'
Why do you think this is happening? What's changed in the relationship between government and citizens?
Here's the fundamental issue: The role of government is to ensure that what is right should be made easier and what is wrong should be made more difficult. Generally, we don't choose between right and wrong -- we choose between what is easy and what is difficult.
If there's a wrong-way shortcut of 200 metres versus a proper route of one and a half kilometres, most people take the 200 metre wrong-side route because it's easy.
What governments have been doing -- in civil service, journalism, business, everywhere -- is making it difficult to do the right thing. Media now ask themselves: 'Is it feasible for us to do this story? Will this make our life difficult?'
That's where governance has completely changed, and that needs to change. The government should make it easier for people to do the right thing and harder to do the wrong thing. Right now, it's the opposite.
You've been very critical of how the government handled Kashmir, CAA-NRC, and other issues. What pattern do you see?
The pattern is clear -- it's about brazen curtailment of rights. How can you shut down an entire state? How can you put everyone behind bars or under house arrest? How can you suspend transportation, suspend the Internet, and act as if nothing has happened?
This is about how brazenly you can treat citizens, how you can put an entire state's population under such restrictions and continue as if it's normal. That cannot be accepted. This is not about policy disagreements -- this is about fundamental rights and dignity.
The same pattern emerged with the CAA and NRC. You can't impose what I called 'Tughlaqi decisions' on people -- arbitrary, poorly thought-out policies that affect millions -- and expect them to accept it without question.
These decisions challenge the very foundation of our citizenship and our Constitutional guarantees.
Rahul Gandhi repeatedly says his fight is to save India's Constitution. What role do you think you will play in fulfilling that vision?
This is exactly the point. The Constitution grants us our citizenship rights. We all became citizens because we gave ourselves this Constitution. So the concept of strong citizenry is the same as saving the Constitution.
Whatever I can do -- wherever I can travel, wherever I can augment the message, wherever I can speak -- I'll definitely do that. If I can strengthen the party structure and be part of ensuring this message reaches a larger section of people in its right sense, that will be my contribution.
The Constitution isn't just a document -- it's the guarantee of our dignity, our rights, our ability to dream and achieve those dreams. It's what makes us citizens rather than subjects.
When you fight for the Constitution, you're fighting for the fundamental principle that people have the right to question their government, to hold it accountable, to assert themselves when they feel the government is wrong.
That's the fight we cannot afford to lose. It's not about one party or one leader -- it's about whether we want to be citizens or subjects. It's about whether we believe in a strong nation built on strong citizenry, or whether we accept a return to the days when we were merely subjects of whoever held power.
As you join active politics, what's your final message to people who have been following your journey?
Look beyond the wrapper. Don't judge a political party by the behaviour of one leader or one incident. Look at the core principles, the ideology, what it tries to achieve. That's what defines a party.
For those who believe in the agency of citizens, in the right to question, in the dignity guaranteed by our Constitution -- there is space in this struggle. You don't have to surrender your identity. You can be who you are.
But we need to move beyond just being against something. We need to be for something -- for a vision of India where citizens are empowered, where asking questions isn't seen as sedition, where doing the right thing is easy rather than difficult.
This is a fight for the India envisioned by our Constitution -- an India where dignity of the individual is paramount, where diversity is strength, where citizenship means something more than just documents and proof.
That's the fight, and that's why I've chosen to be part of this political journey.