News Tamil Nadu

Congress MP Candidate Sasikanth Senthil Peddles False Narrative About Annamalai’s Remarks On Quota

March 28, 2024
The Commune

Two former civil servants hailing from the Karnataka cadre, K Annamalai of the Indian Police Service (IPS) and Sasikanth Senthil of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), decided to step down from their positions in 2019 and enter the political arena. Annamalai aligned himself with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), while Senthil chose the Congress, owing to their differing ideologies. Both are now poised to contest in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in their home state of Tamil Nadu. Annamalai is vying for the Coimbatore parliamentary constituency, while Senthil is eyeing the Thiruvallur reserved constituency.

Having served in various capacities across Karnataka for about a decade, Annamalai, a member of the 2011 IPS batch, and Senthil, who belongs to the 2009 IAS batch, decided to leave their bureaucratic roles due to their dissatisfaction with the system. Senthil, who resigned as deputy commissioner of Dakshina Kannada district in September 2019, cited the compromise of national values as his reason for leaving. He subsequently joined the Congress in Tamil Nadu and actively participated in movements against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

Much to everyone’s surprise, the remarks made by former bureaucrat Sasikanth Senthil, who has been nominated as a candidate for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, are truly startling. While it’s not uncommon for politicians to engage in actions to enhance their public image and garner popularity, the direct and unabashed statements from a former IAS officer are quite unexpected. Aligning with the stance of their alliance, the DMK, Congress candidate Senthil has asserted in a press statement that Annamalai is opposed to the quota system, suggesting that his views could potentially sway others to oppose it as well.

Sasikanth Senthil speaking to reporters said, “Rather than how I see it, we know what kind of a mentality he is showing. As everyone know, in Tamil Nadu we created quota system for backward classes since 1960. Many of those who are here today have come with that (quota). You can see to what extent that dominant mentality, ‘I am superior, you are inferior’ concept, is displayed when he speaks forgetting the path he travelled and why he has come here. If you see today, if many grassroots people influenced by this ideology, they will also say that we don’t need all this, ‘we are a superior caste, caste pride, we all are ruling lineage’, all this is the thought process that comes from that mentality. It reflects his thought process.”

However, what BJP President Annamalai conveyed on that occasion was that the opposition candidate nominated by the AIADMK, Singai Ramachandran, came from a political lineage, which granted him certain advantages and secured him the MP ticket easily. Regarding educational background, Annamalai noted that Singai Ramachandran’s father, a former MLA, wielded influence and secured a seat in PSG Tech College through the MLA quota. In contrast, Annamalai, hailing from an agricultural background, did not have such privileges. However, the Tamil Nadu news channels sensationalized the narrative with sensational headlines. Subsequently, the DMK initiated propaganda with a similar stance, prompting the former bureaucrat Sasikanth Senthil, a candidate of the alliance, to echo the same rhetoric, which is regrettable considering his background as a former bureaucrat.

Annamalai, addressing reporters in Coimbatore on 25 March 2024, remarked, “In 2002, he (ADMK candidate Singai Ramachandran) didn’t know his father being an MLA got him a seat to study in the college using the quota benefit. AIADMK’s candidate father is an MLA, it’s dynasty politics, Govindaraj. He has come to politics using quota. I came to Coimbatore for the first time in 2002. I was wearing trousers, my father wearing a veshti, we brought two tin boxes from the village, took three buses and came to Coimbatore in 2002.

That was 22 years ago. My age was 17 years. I took a town bus from Gandhipuram bus stand and got down to Peelamedu with two tin boxes. I mean in 2002, my father and I stood in front of PSG Engineering College in Peelamedu with two tin boxes. Then I asked my father, will this town be kind to us? We all come from the village.. 40 houses in total. We reached Coimbatore by boarding three different buses. It is a big city. Will I be able to survive in this city? 

Because I got an opportunity to study in PSG College of Engineering. I was not privileged, I did not get a seat through MLA quota. I came to Coimbatore in 2002 with 2 tin boxes, just as you all work hard as individuals and are in this land. I studied in PSG College of Engineering for 5 years. My wife studied in the same college and was a year junior to me. She studied in PSG College and we both got married and settled in Coimbatore. You have to understand one thing, Annamalai didn’t come in quota system. Vanathi didn’t come in through quota system, Modi did not come here through quota system, no one here achieved all this through quota system.”

In Tamil Nadu, there’s a prevailing expectation among the populace for a highly educated and elite individual to lead and manage administrative affairs. People warmly embrace those from educated backgrounds, viewing them as fitting leaders. With Annamalai’s ascension to the presidency of the BJP in Tamil Nadu, his capabilities have been recognized, bolstering both his own image and that of the party throughout the region. However, Sasikanth Senthil, who has primarily been involved in war room experiences in Karnataka, Rajasthan, and Delhi, is yet to establish himself in Tamil Nadu. Despite his reputation as a soft-spoken administrator, some have critiqued his transition into politics, arguing that merely skimming news headlines without full context is inadequate for someone with his bureaucratic background. Fielded by the I.N.D.I alliance in the Thiruvallur constituency, Senthil still has a long way to go in proving himself to the electorate.

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