Sasikanth Senthil

S. Sasikanth Senthil is a former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) Officer from Tamil Nadu. He came into limelight after he resigned from IAS services on September 2019 out of discontent with the actions of the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) led central government. His resignation letter said that democracy's fundamental building blocks are being violated in an unprecedented way. Sasikanth was also renowned for managing communal conflicts and the controlling the sand mafia in the Dakshina Kannada district where he worked as a Deputy commissioner.
== Personal life ==
Sasikanth was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu on 1979. His father, P. Shanmugam was a retired district judge and his mother Ambica retired Central government officer. Sasikanth graduated first class from the Bharathidasan University in Tiruchirappalli and has a in Bachelor of Engineering degree in electronics. He worked at Polaris Inc.|Polaris Inc. and later, quit his job to pursue IAS.
== Career ==
Sasikanth was an IAS officer from the 2009 batch of the Karnataka cadre. He topped the UPSC examinations and ranked ninth on the national level. From 2009 through 2012, he served as assistant commissioner in Ballari district. He served for two terms as chief executive of Shivamogga Zilla Panchayat, and was also the deputy commissioner of the Chitradurga district and Raichur district. Senthil has been the director in the Department of Mines and Geology from November 2016. He was posted as the Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada district on 20 October 2017.
=== Managing communal violence ===
Sasikanth earned a name for being a responsible government official during his years as a civil servant in the Dakshina Kannada district, and was lauded by his peers for his administrational fairness. He said his administration had succeeded in cutting the funds provided to Religious extremism rganizations and this was accomplished by limiting the district's Illegal sand mining sand since the two are connected together. He also stated his management had discussions with members of various religious communities.
There were 42 cases and 6 instances of communal violence at Dakshina Kannada in 2017, as per the statistics. It fell to 3 cases and 3 instances in 2018.
=== Controlling sand mafias ===
He was recognized with placing a control on the district's unlawful sand mafia which had almost ruined the delicate environment of the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ). Senthil had reduced the amount of sand extraction permits in the coastal regulated zone rivers from over 400 to 90 during his 2 years in the district.
Sasikanth introduced a platform and an app in May 2019 to encourage transparency in sand mining thus curbing unlawful mining. The management made it compulsory that all sand mined from CRZs must be distributed only via the platform, this effectively destroyed the unlawful sand export to other states. The platform was such a triumph that neighboring Udupi district also adopted the initiative.
== Resignation ==
Sasikanth submitted his resignation on 6 September 2019. He said in his letter of resignation that feels it is "unethical" for him to remain in government as a public servant as the complex democracy's fundamental building blocks are being violated in an unprecedented way. The letter also said he strongly feels that in the coming days there will be challenges for the nation's basic fabric. He also apologized to the public representatives and the people of the district for leaving his job mid-way.
On February 2020, he said that he had resigned from its IAS post for the fascism and anti-people activities of the BJP.
=== Reactions ===
The Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) leader Anant Kumar Hegde, called his resignation as an act of arrogance. He also called him a traitor and asked him to go to Pakistan.
Jignesh Mevani, the MLA of Vadgam Assembly constituency in Gujarat said in a tweet that "History will remember that some brave among us decided to stand up, when everyone were asked to crawl.
The MLC of Congress, Ivan D'Souza and party supporters organized a demonstration in front of the Deputy Commissioner's office in Mangaluru. The demonstrators kept BJP accountable for Senthil's resignation. He also asked for a investigation in the matter.
Villagers from Sasikanth's native village staged demonstrations to not to resign his post. He has also built a library in his village and helped many students to get education.
=== On Bharatiya Janata Party ===
Sasikanth called the ruling BJP government "It's a Fascism government". He told India Today that Fascism is coming to India and there is a general sense among officers that things are really not correct. He said The News Minute that the Kashmir scenario is part of a "fascist framework" that is being implemented in the nation and said that an entire State's month-long clampdown is unheard of. 
He also blamed the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS) and BJP of divisive politics. Pointing at the 2020 Jawaharlal Nehru University attacks, Sasikanth said that the Jawaharlal Nehru University is a top-tier university which educates children from poor backgrounds and that is why they had increased the fee of hostel from Rs 30 to Rs 3,000. He also said that the BJP government wants to shut down down all universities and other higher education centers which produce rational students who would challenge the party's irrational initiatives. 
Sasikanth also said that their agenda is quite contrary to the interests of various working communities, especially the Dalit community and other oppressed people.
== References ==
Category:Living people
Category:1979 births
Category:Indian Administrative Service officers