Former IAS officer Kannan Gopinathan officially joined the Indian National Congress on October 13, 2025. The induction ceremony took place at the AICC headquarters in New Delhi. Congress General Secretary K.C. Venugopal welcomed Gopinathan into the party.

Gopinathan, born on December 12, 1985, hails from Kerala and is known for his activism. He resigned from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in 2019 in protest against the restrictions imposed in Jammu and Kashmir following the abrogation of Article 370. He felt that he could not remain silent as a citizen of India while the democratic and constitutional rights of the people of Kashmir were being violated.

Before resigning, Gopinathan served as a secretary in key departments in Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. During his tenure, he was instrumental in transforming a loss-making government electricity distribution firm into a profit-making one and completing a two-decade-delayed ring road project in Silvassa. Earlier in his career, Gopinathan worked as a VLSI design engineer at Freescale Semiconductor in Noida. He also volunteered teaching children in a slum with the Association for India's Development Noida chapter and actively participated in the India Against Corruption movement. During the 2018 Kerala floods, Gopinathan volunteered in relief camps without revealing his identity as an IAS officer.

Following his resignation, Gopinathan has been vocal about various issues, including government accountability and the importance of freedom of expression. He has actively participated in protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and has been critical of several policies of the central government, including demonetization.

Congress leaders present at the joining highlighted Gopinathan's courage in speaking out at a time when dissent was being suppressed. They praised his passion for the downtrodden and marginalized and his commitment to fighting for justice and unity. Gopinathan's decision to join the Congress comes at a time when several states, including Kerala, are approaching assembly elections. Another IAS officer, Sasikanth Senthil, who also resigned in protest against the government's policies in Jammu and Kashmir, joined the Congress and successfully contested the Lok Sabha elections from Tiruvallur in Tamil Nadu.