Page 50 - 28FEB2019E

SHAH FAESAL I 35 yEArS
former IaS offIcer
‘I won’t join separatists but

I acknowledge their space

and respect their politics’

SHAH FAESAL, a 2009 IAS topper, dramatically resigned from the government job in of the sentiment. They should be honest
January and decided to join politics. Ever since he has espoused a strident pro-Kashmir about it.
outlook with an indirect nod to the state’s separatist narrative, his actions and utterances We are winning elections because just
have generated drama and controversy. In an interview, Faesal tells RIYAZ WANI he won’t one percent of people vote for us and we
join any mainstream political party but will chart his own political path to transform the feel we are not accountable to them. The
troubled situation in the state. day this mandate is real and people vote
for us, that day we will assert ourselves.
edited excerpts from an interview • That this space belongs to us and we are
not going to let it go.
Why did you quit bureaucracy? their job? They should not make loose state-
I have been thinking about quitting for You have people who are dying. You have ments about the realities they do not
the past two years. This struggle has been youngsters taking up gun against the have mandate to do anything about. That
going on within me. Harvard gave me an state. There is open rebellion against the space belongs to Hurriyat. We should
opportunity to detach myself and think state. But this part of the problem is being respect their space.
about it. addressed through a military operation.
I think bureaucrats do enjoy lot of This is a political problem. You are tell- Is this what you want to change?
power in the state because of the politi- ing the politicians this is not your job that Yes. Mainstream politicians have cho-
cal instability. But the fact of the matter is you focus on repairing roads, culverts sen to be daily wagers. Because they feel
that the power doesn’t belong to bureau- and laying of the electricity poles. There there is no other option. It’s a politics of
crats, power belongs elsewhere. Their is a fundamental problem here: Military convenience. You want to be in politics.
power is derived from the exigency of is dealing with political problem and You don’t have any ideology. You don’t
the circumstances. the politicians have been restricted to have any motivation to change the sys-
addressing civic problems. tem. I want to tell politicians that look,
But you also say that bureaucrats I had a huge career here and that I am
wielding excessive power is part of Governor Satya Pal Malik has urged giving it up to contribute and change the
the problem in J&K? you to return to your job? system.
Yes that, in fact, is the part of the problem. It is not because of not getting good post-
When bureaucrats try to appropriate ings that I left the service. There were But you say power lies somewhere
power from the politicians and they try reasons which were completely exoge- else, not with the politicians in the
to fill in a political space, that doesn’t au- nous. I see a huge political challenge and state?
ger well. We have seen a kind of depoliti- I wanted to contribute. I don’t think power has been taken away.
cization of the political space. By which I think it has been given away. We want
I mean, people do not want to associate You have also said that the to take that power back. We are a very
themselves with the politics and politics mainstream politicians do not special state. We have a very unique leg-
doesn’t provide any solutions. represent the sentiment? islative and legal status. We could have
Yes. People who are in the electoral arena been very self-sufficient when it comes
But politicians also aren’t doing do not earn their mandate on the basis to maintaining things which we have.

tehelka / 28 february 2019 50 www.tehelka.com