India has, in theory, a cabinet system of government. A group of popularly elected politicians are meant to rule using consensus.

In practice, of course, we have a strongman (or strongwoman) model, where one powerful politician rules via a clique of Indian Administrative Service officers.

So much do politicians like the IAS that since independence, they have given the cadre more and more power. This when, during the Raj itself, babus were already seen to be all-powerful.

What happens, though, when an IAS officer decides to listen to his conscience?

In 2019, Kannan Gopinathan resigned from the service in protest against the draconian crackdown in Kashmir following the abrogation of Article 370.

On Scroll Adda, Kannan tells me how he became an IAS officer almost by accident, what it felt like having so much power and what it is now after his resignation.

Producer: Kritika Pant

Host: Shoaib Daniyal

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