During the Karnataka Vidhan Sabha elections campaigning, former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Sasikanth Senthil has been leading the Congress campaign in the State from the party’s dedicated war room (also called the connect centre).
Sasikanth Senthil served as the Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada district between 2017 and 2019. He had left bureaucracy in September 2019 under the pretext of saving the ‘fundamental building blocks of the nation’ from being destroyed.
A year later, he made his intentions clear by joining the Tamil Nadu unit of the Congress party. He later worked as the coordinator for the social media wing of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee. Sasikanth Senthil has now been tasked to ensure the victory of the grand old party in Karnataka.
In a tweet on Wednesday (May 3), Sasikanth Senthil said, “Six months of hard work will certainly yield results on the 10th. The Congress War room aka ‘Connect centre’ was beginning in sharp election management in the party.”
While speaking to India Today, he claimed, “I have seen how politics worked in coastal Karnataka…I felt the country was going in a different direction and something needs to be done about it.”
Sasikanth Senthil said that his resignation was in protest against the humanitarian CAA, abrogation of Article 370, which completely integrated Jammu and Kashmir into the Union of India and the NRC (essential for identification of illegal immigrants staying in India).
“If there is one party whose ideology is that of the idea of India, then, that party is Congress,” he announced. Given his ideological inclination, it comes as no surprise that he had fear mongered about the NRC and CAA prior to joining the grand-old party.
Opindia had reported how Sasikanth Senthil claimed in January 2020 that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah were playing with people’s emotions. “After the implementation of CAA and NRC the nation is observing an emergency-like situation,” he had said.
“CAA has affected the Muslim community today and will affect the Dalits and the backward classes in the future,” Sasikanth Senthil effectively contributed to the hysteria against the humanitarian Citizenship Amendment Act.
Peddling victimhood and hysteria for vote bank politics
Sasikanth Senthil is well accustomed to the tactics employed by Congress to appease the Muslim community. In March this year, he cried foul over the Karnataka government’s decision to scrap 4% Muslim reservation in jobs and admissions in educational institutions in Karnataka.
Even though the quota for the Lingayats and Vokkaligas was increased, the ex-IAS officer claimed, “I am sure the Dalits and OBCs are next in line. Its just a matter of time.”
Strongly condemn the removal of 4% reservation for the #Muslims in Karnataka.
— Sasikanth Senthil (@s_kanth) March 24, 2023
This is an election gimmick and had been done to communally divide votes as a part of the 80/20 politics.
I am sure the #Dalits and #OBCs are next in line. Its just a matter of time.
Earlier, he had tried to cast aspersions on the Assam government’s intention to crackdown on child marriages.
While registering his opposition to the exercise, Senthil said, “In their desperate attempts to run a narrative against Muslims, the BJP continues to harass the large chunk of poor Hindus. This is a classic example.”
It, therefore, comes as no surprise that the man behind the ‘Congress war room’ in the State is also in support of non-essential religious clothing such as hijab in educational institutions with uniforms.
On March 15, 2022, the Karnataka High Court held that Hijab is not an essential practice in Islam and that uniform is a reasonable restriction on the Right to Religion. Following the verdict, liberals and Islamists took to Twitter to cast aspersions on the independence of the Judiciary.
Sasikanth Senthil joined them and claimed, “The hijab judgement is yet another disappointment from the higher judiciary which has somehow lost the idea of what this country is all about.”
The hijab judgement is yet another disappointment from the higher judiciary which has somehow lost the idea of what this country is all about.
— Sasikanth Senthil (@s_kanth) March 15, 2022
He also tried to legitimise the idea of ‘Muslim veto’ and suggested that any administrative change in a Muslim-dominated area such as Lakshwadeep is akin to ‘needling communal tensions.’
Sasikanth Senthil makes Hinduphobic jibes
Besides minority appeasement, the ex-IAS officer has been at the helm of making distasteful remarks against the Hindu community.
Despite being well aware that ‘gau mutra’ jibes were made by Pulwama terrorist Adil Ahmed Dar prior to the suicide attack, Senthil used them to mock the sentiments of the Hindus.
Following the resignation of Pratap Bhanu Mehta from Ashoka University, he claimed that the Professor would be replaced by someone who ‘understands Bharat Mata and gaumutra.’
He had made similar distasteful comments during the Coronavirus pandemic.
Sasikanth Senthil has also tried to discredit ‘love jihad’ as a conspiracy theory, despite 100s of documented cases of forced conversion and identity fraud.
The ex-IAS officer, who is hoping to make Congress win in Karnataka, has been a frontrunner in anti-Hindu rhetorics and Muslim appeasement.
This becomes evident from his speech in January 2020. “Even after a thousand years, Hindu nation will not become a reality. Indians will not remain quiet if politicians meddle with the constitution,” he had said.
With Congress now vowing to ban Bajrang Dal in its election manifesto, the nefarious intentions of the grand-old party and their advisors are becoming even clearer.
