IAS officer Shah Faesal jumps to support India in a war of words triggered on Twitter by Rishi Sunak’s appointment between the BJP and the opposition. Faesal says it is not a surprise to India that Rishi Sunak has been appointed as the UK Prime Minister as it is for Pakistan because no minority can hold a top post in the government in the country.
Shah Faesal, a 2009 Kashmiri IAS topper, had resigned from service in January 2019 and announced his decision to join active politics. He said that he resigned to protest the “unabated killings in Kashmir, the marginalisation of Muslims and subversion of public institutions” by the government at the Centre.
IAS officer Shah Faesal jumps to support India in a war of words triggered on Twitter by Rishi Sunak’s appointment between the BJP and the opposition. Faesal says it is not a surprise to India that Rishi Sunak has been appointed as the UK Prime Minister as it is for Pakistan because no minority can hold a top post in the government in the country.
“It’s possible only in India that a Muslim youngster from Kashmir can go on to top the Indian Civil Service exam, rise to top echelons of the government, then fall apart with the government and still be rescued and taken back by the same government,” Shah Faesal tweeted as Rishi Sunak becoming the UK PM triggered a debate.
“My own life-story is about a journey, shoulder to shoulder, with each fellow citizen of this nation of 1.3 Billion people, where I have felt owned, respected, encouraged and at times pampered at every step of the way. That’s India,” the IAS officer wrote.
“From Maulana Azad to Dr Manmohan Singh and Dr. Zakir Hussain to HE President Droupadi Murmu, India has always been THE land of equal opportunity and the road to the top is open to all. Won’t be wrong if I say I have been to the mountain top and seen it for myself,” he added.
Shah Faesal was a 2010 batch IAS topper of the erstwhile J&K cadre who resigned from the services in 2019 and floated his own political party. In 2022, Shah Faesal was posted as the deputy secretary in the Union ministry for tourism.
Congress leader Chidambaram said there is a lesson that India and the parties that practise majoritarianism can learn– in Rishi Sunak becoming the UK PM. “The people of the US and the UK have embraced the non-majority citizens of their countries and elected them to high office in government,” Chidambaram tweeted.
Shashi Tharoor raised the question as to whether a parallel of Rishi Sunak becoming the PM will ever happen in India. The BJP was quick to point out that India had three Muslim and one Sikh President, a Sikh PM for 10 years.
BJP’s Shehzad Poonawalla took a jibe at the Congress and tweeted, “I guess Dr Tharoor and P Chidambaram never really considered Dr Manmohan Singh as the PM for obvious reasons!”
