IAS officer who quit job to protest Art 370 abrogation joins Congress

Former IAS officer Kannan Gopinathan, who resigned in 2019 to protest the government’s clampdown in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370, joined the Congress on Monday, describing the move as a “continuation of his fight to set the country back on the right path”.

Gopinathan, who had shot to prominence for giving up his service over what he termed an “assault on democratic freedoms”, formally entered the party in the presence of Congress general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal and senior leader Pawan Khera.

Explaining the reasoning behind his decision, Gopinathan said he had spent the past few years travelling across nearly 90 districts and engaging with citizens and political leaders. Through those interactions, he said, it became clear that only the Congress had