Dr B. Ashok, a 1998-batch Kerala cadre IAS officer holding the dual charge of principal secretary of the Sainik Welfare Department and vice chancellor of the Kerala Agricultural University, was suspended yesterday for criticising the state government on social media. The chief secretary issued the order citing a breach of Rule 7(2) of service rules, which prohibits civil servants from speaking to the media or engaging on social media without prior official sanction. The government's position is that he crossed that line—repeatedly and publicly.
Ashok's response was anything but contrite. He called the suspension an act of vendetta, delivered by what he described as a “caretaker” government counting down its final days. He challenged the order, arguing that it failed to specify which of his statements had triggered the action. Rather than treating it as a blow, he called it an “acknowledgement” of his dissent and accused the administration of “firing at its enemies on its way out”.
He also made clear he has no intention of rushing to court. His bet is on the next government, which he believes will revoke the order soon enough. In the meantime, he had harsher words to offer. He described a political culture in which civil servants are treated as “slaves” and said that the suspension order “belongs in the trash”.
Ashok also used the moment to deliver a broader indictment of the Left Democratic Front government led by Pinarayi Vijayan, calling the chief minister a “failed leader” and the “most indifferent administrator” he had encountered in his nearly three-decade career. The current administration, he said, had lost both public trust and internal coherence. While he credited Vijayan’s first term with a degree of coordination, he argued that something had come apart in the second—that the government had lost its sense of direction and could no longer be taken seriously by the public.
He claimed that there were arrears of ₹40,000 crore across critical sectors, including health care. He took aim at the ‘Nava Kerala Sadas’ programme, which he characterised as a display of extravagance at a time of fiscal strain, and raised questions about the government’s fundraising methods. He also cited the handling of the Sabarimala Temple issue and cooperative bank scandals as defining failures, and predicted that the ruling front would pay a political price in the elections.
Ashok’s friction with the government has been building for some time. Pro-LDF organisations have already flagged his growing media and social media presence as a problem. In March, the Students Federation of India approached the Election Commission, alleging that comments Ashok made in a newspaper article and on television amounted to a model code of conduct violation, though the EC rejected the complaint.
Tensions escalated further after Ashok wrote an article arguing that a government’s prolonged hold on power could, over time, take on a “fascist character”. He also appeared on a podcast hosted by fellow IAS officer N. Prasanth, who has himself been suspended by the Vijayan government.
Ashok has been moved multiple times during his tenure in Kerala, though the Central Administrative Tribunal has intervened on at least three occasions, quashing those orders in his favour. Thereafter, the government responded by assigning him what he described as an “insignificant” posting after a long tenure in the agriculture department.
