Back to bureaucracy: A homecoming for Shah Faesal

“Eight months of my life (Jan 2019-Aug 2019) created so much baggage that I was almost finished. While chasing a chimera, I lost almost everything that I had built over the years. Job. Friends. Reputation. Public goodwill. But I never lost hope. My idealism had let me down (sic).”

The revealing tweet was put out recently by Shah Faesal in April, just before it became official that he was returning to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) after ending his affair with Kashmiri politics that lasted a few months.

Those tracking his statements and tweets, his return to the service after a gap of two years was not a surprise (What is indeed surprising is that the government had not accepted his resignation till now).

Faesal has deleted all his past tweets that were critical of the Centre.

As of now, he retweets announcements and speeches of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. He even tweeted recently that people must watch Kashmir Files, a film on the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits that has been ecstatically embraced by the Modi government and the BJP.

In Kashmir, Faesal’s somersault is seen by many as an attempt to return to his former life after failing to make a mark in the murky politics of the Valley.

To others, the doctor-turned-bureaucrat, who adorned the front pages of newspapers after becoming the first Kashmiri to top the UPSC, may come as a cautionary tale.

MBBS to IAS

Faesal was born in the remote Sogam area of Lolab Valley in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district, to school-teacher parents, Ghulam Rasool Shah and Mubeena Shah.

When he was 19, tragedy struck as militants killed his father. However, the setback didn’t derail Faesal’s dream of becoming a doctor.

In 2008, he graduated from the Jhelum Valley Medical College with an MBBS degree, which was a proud moment for him. Faesal also holds a Master's degree in Urdu.

But the biggest moment, and one which thrust him into the national limelight, came in 2010 when he became the first Kashmiri to top the highly competitive UPSC exam. At 27, he had become an IAS officer and the life of a bureaucrat beckoned.

Faesal, who is married to Iram Rashid, a Kashmiri Administrative Officer, served in many capacities in J&K before he was selected as an Edward Mason Fellow at Harvard University in June 2018. He took a leave of absence for the programme and was supposed to rejoin government service a year later.

But six months later, the bureaucrat surprised everyone when he announced his decision to resign from the IAS on January 9, 2019.

And less than two months later, he launched the J&K People’s Movement (JKPM) in March 2019 with the promise of hawa badlegi (Change Will Come), presenting himself as an alternative to traditional parties.

In his resignation letter, Faesal quoted “unabated killings in Kashmir, marginalisation and invisibilisation of around 200 million Indian Muslims at the hands of Hindutva forces, and hate in the mainland India in the name of hyper-nationalism” as reasons for quitting the coveted service.

The politics of the JKPM revolved around Faesal for six months but didn’t make much of an impact on the complex politics of Kashmir.

Then came the political earthquake. The Centre upended the Valley politics and life forever by abrogating J&K’s special status under Article 370 on August 5, 2019.

Several days later, on August 14, while trying to board a flight at Delhi airport, Faesal in an interview with the BBC said that the only choice after the abrogation of the special status was to “either be a stooge or a separatist”.

Things got worse for Faesal from then on. He was booked under the Public Safety Act in February 2020 for subtly advocating separatism. The detention under PSA was extended by three months on May 13, 2020.

In June 2020, he was finally released. Soon, Faesal announced that he was not only resigning from his party but quitting politics altogether, a sudden end to an impetuous decision. The JKPM now exists only on paper.

Faesal with his chutzpah might have aced the UPSC exam but to crack the world of mainstream politics in Kashmir needed the patience to cultivate the crucial grassroots support; something that was beyond his reach.

The news of Faesal rejoining the services didn’t create any buzz in Kashmir, perhaps due to his declining relevance in the Valley politics.

"Faesal’s return can be read like, all's well that ends well,” said Majid Hyderi, a political observer. “His new story may inspire the youth who have chosen the wrong path. But the million-dollar question is: will the Modi government be so magnanimous towards every Kashmiri youth who may have chosen the wrong path?”