Anantkumar Hegde brands IAS officer Senthil a traitor

BJP MP Anantkumar Hegde has called IAS officer Sasikanth Senthil “Gaddar” (traitor) just days after the 2009-batch bureaucrat resigned as deputy commissioner of Dakshina Kannada.

“The state government should realize that it should have sacked him after he opened his polluted mindset against the Union Government,” Hegde has said in a tweet, reacting to a news article on efforts to convince Senthil against resigning. “But cajoling this Gaddar to return, amounts to treacherous act against the nation,” Hegde, a former Union minister, added.

On Friday last week, Senthil announced his resignation from the IAS citing “ideological issues” and it was widely seen as angst directed at the Narendra Modi administration at the Centre, especially after the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu & Kashmir.

After announcing his resignation, Senthil told DH: “There were ideological issues. I could not compromise with a few happenings in the country. Hence, I have tendered resignation. I had been living based on a few principles in my life. A few of the developments in the country are working against my principles...The incidents that had happened miles away from me is disturbing.”

Hegde, a Hindutva firebrand who represents Uttara Kannada in the Lok Sabha, went on to justify branding Senthil as a traitor. Reacting to one of Senthil’s interviews in which he says India was witnessing a “fascist onslaught,” Hegde said: “If this guy can conclude that the Union Government is fascist, then we have the liberty to call him another paid Gaddar, dancing to the tunes set by his real paymasters! This may be the debate he wants to initiate!”

Continuing his tirade against Senthil, Hegde asked Senthil to go to Pakistan. “The first thing he should do is to migrate to Pakistan along with those who have supported his views. This is practically easy and the final solution also. Instead of breaking the country by staying here, he can go there (Pakistan) and fight against our country and our government. Let loyalty be shown in this at least,” Hegde said.