'He forgave like a priest-king': IAS Shah Faesal says PM Modi restored his dignity

IAS officer Shah Faesal on Wednesday recalled his return to government service and credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for giving him a second chance, as the Prime Minister marked his 75th birthday.

"A time came in my life when I found myself at the bottom of a ditch, professionally and personally. My qualifications still mattered on paper, but the world had moved on. Friends had vanished, recognition had faded, and the future felt sealed shut," Faesal wrote on X.

"In that low moment, I resolved to make one last attempt to return to public service, though I doubted anyone would take a chance on me again. Would I be judged for being a Kashmiri, being a Muslim?" he asked.

Faesal said the opportunity came sooner than expected. "A true visionary recognized the worth in my modest beginnings and the struggles that had shaped me. He seemed to read the intent behind my journey, he forgave, the way a priest-king might, measuring not pedigree but purpose. It was a quiet gesture that restored my dignity," he said.

"Some day I will tell the entire story but for today this much should suffice. Many happy returns of the day to the man who transformed a billion lives - Honble Prime Minister of India," he added, tagging Modi and the Prime Minister's Office.

Faesal became the first Kashmiri to top the civil services examination in 2010. A doctor-turned-bureaucrat, he joined the Jammu and Kashmir cadre before it was merged into the AGMUT cadre following the abrogation of Article 370.

In January 2019, Faesal resigned from the IAS to protest what he described as the "unabated killings" in Kashmir and the "marginalisation of Indian Muslims." Two months later, he launched the Jammu and Kashmir People's Movement (JKPM), but stepped down from politics in August 2020.

In February 2020, he was detained under the Public Safety Act for posts critical of the central government, including one where he wrote: "Kashmir will need a long, sustained, non-violent political mass movement for restoration of political rights." The post was later deleted.

He spent nearly a year in detention before returning to public life. In April 2022, Faesal was reinstated into the IAS, and in August he was appointed deputy secretary in the Ministry of Tourism. Around that time, he wrote on social media that he was "excited to start all over again."

On Wednesday, Faesal joined several politicians, business leaders and bureaucrats who shared personal memories and tributes to mark Modi's 75th birthday. 

The Prime Minister was born on September 17, 1950, in Vadnagar, Gujarat.