Avinash Azad
In the last 48 hours, former IPS officer Basant Rath — expelled from service by the Government of India in August 2023 — has once again thrown himself into controversy. With a toxic cocktail of paranoia, arrogance, and anarchist posturing, Rath has smeared institutions, vilified individuals, and exposed himself as a restless attention-seeker who thrives on self-manufactured storms.
Rath has now promised 15 MLAs from Kashmir to the BJP if party president J.P. Nadda agrees to meet him. He has branded Rahul Gandhi, P. Chidambaram (Former Union Minister), the Abdullahs, and the Muftis as incompetent. Having earlier accused former J&K DGPs Dilbagh Singh and R.R. Swain of being “threats to his life,” Rath has now turned his finger towards the incumbent DGP Nalin Prabhat. He even claims that CID, IB, and RAW are tailing him. The obvious question is: “What has Rath ever done to deserve the attention of India’s premier security agencies? Why should J&K police chiefs consider him important enough to conspire against?
In one of his posts on X, he wrote to the management of The Lalit, Srinagar: “Request my privacy, please. Dear Manager, The Lalit, Srinagar. I perceive reasonable security threat and threats to my reputation and mental well-being from J and K police and officers of IB and RAW. I request you to ensure that only Aftab Sa’ab enters my room in my absence. You fail to ensure this, I’ll make you responsible for the consequences. If anything happens to me and my properties, please lodge a police complaint at the nearest police station against Mr Nalin Prabhat, DGP J AND K, IGP KASHMIR, DIG SRINAGAR and SSP SRINAGAR.”
With such letters, Rath defames the very men in khaki (DGP, IGP Kashmir, DIG Kashmir, SSP Srinagar and other officers) who entered the police service through the same exams he once cleared. This paranoia is matched by sheer hypocrisy. When Deputy Commissioner Srinagar Akshay Labroo denied him permission to hold a session at SKICC Srinagar, Rath melodramatically appealed to LG Manoj Sinha on X: “Hon’ble LG sa’ab, is your DC Srinagar running an auditorium or a gambling den? Why don’t you appoint him as the next CEC?” It wasn’t defiance — it was theatre. Though the post has since been deleted, The Hidden News possesses a screenshot.
Rath postures as a man of the people, but his record tells another story. As Traffic Police Chief, he berated a young mother and her daughter in Jammu’s Gandhi Nagar — fans who only wished to meet their “hero.” As SP Rural Jammu, his order of firing at the Domana checkpoint killed a youth — a chilling reminder of his General Dyer mindset. Yet he dares to lecture others on justice, dignity, and public sentiment.
He flaunts his shelves of books as proof of intellect, but none of that “learning” shows in his conduct. Knowledge without wisdom is noise — and Rath has been nothing but noise. To recall a saying he should reflect upon: Ilm wahi jo kirdar mein jhalke, degreeyan toh taleem ke kharchon ki rasidain hain.
Currently in Kashmir to ‘promote’ his yet-to-launch academy RANK 62, Rath appears to be eyeing vulnerable aspirants as his next audience. He has announced a fee of ₹2.4 lakh for an eight-month course, while on August 22 he suddenly offered “free coaching” — but on his terms. Another hollow announcement. The youth of J&K already have access to resources; what they don’t need is a failed cop-turned-political opportunist selling them dreams. Compare him with Shah Faesal: whatever one may think of his decisions, he remains a 2009 batch topper serving the nation with dignity. Rath, in contrast, remains a drifter.
His contradictions are endless. On June 25, 2022, at 4:20 a.m., he wrote to the J&K Chief Secretary seeking voluntary retirement. Barely 44 minutes later, he tweeted that if he ever joined politics, it would be BJP; if he ever contested, it would be from Kashmir; and if he ever took the plunge, it would be before March 6, 2024. None of it materialized. The BJP ignored him. Kashmiris rejected him even before he formally entered politics. When one door shut, he shamelessly sought to campaign for NC and PDP, even requesting security cover from JKP — exposing his double standards in broad daylight.
This is not harmless eccentricity. Rath’s reckless attacks on J&K Police, IB, RAW, and national leaders feed anti-India propaganda abroad. What he treats as theatrics is national defamation waiting to be exploited by hostile powers.
At this point, Rath needs more than a Twitter account — he needs help. The government would do well to assess his mental health before his anarchist rants cause greater damage. He is not a fearless reformer, not a rebel intellectual. He is a self-made anarchist — a liability that J&K society can ill afford. And to you, Mr. Rath: enough theatrics. You are not a hero, not a martyr, not even a rebel with a cause. You are a confused opportunist — a double-standard drifter who squandered a once-respected uniform. If you truly believe you are bigger than the system, prove it with substance, not noise from the sidelines. Until then, history will not remember you as a maverick, but as a mess.
