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‘Godse road’ signboard removed in Udupi village
The concrete signboard, placed in Bolo village of Udupi, read ‘Padugiri Nathuram Godse Rasthe’. The incident came to light after a photograph of the new road signage began circulating on social media on Saturday.
Panchayat officials of a village in Karnataka’s Udupi district removed a signboard naming an interior road after Nathuram Godse on Monday after protests from Youth Congress workers.
The concrete signboard, placed in Bolo village of Udupi, read ‘Padugiri Nathuram Godse Rasthe’. The incident came to light after a photograph of the new road signage began circulating on social media on Saturday.
On Monday, Youth Congress workers approached the panchayat office and demanded documents regarding the naming of the road.
“We came to know that a road was named after the first terrorist of modern India – Godse. We came this (Monday) morning to the Panchayat office and sought information from the PDO (Panchayat Development Officer). They said the Panchayat doesn’t have any connection with the signboard, and some miscreants in the area had done it,” said Yogesh Inna, Karakala Youth Congress president.
The Bolo gram panchayat, Karkala taluk is the constituency of Karnataka energy minister V Sunil Kumar. The minister was not available for comment.
After the Youth Congress workers raised objections, officials of the gram panchayat removed the name board with the help of the police.
“It appears that the board had come up overnight. It was not fixed using concrete but erected in mud. It looks like it was done in a hurry. This road to Padugiri village was concretized recently, so someone has used it to create problems,” said an official of the gram panchayat, who didn’t want to be named.
“The gram panchayat has a process for naming roads, and no resolution was passed to name this road. Because the road is in the interiors, we didn’t know about this until we were informed on Monday. Soon after, we removed the board with the help of police,” the official added.
The official said that a complaint has been lodged with the Karkala police, and officials have sought a detailed report on the matter.
Zilla Panchayat CEO H Prasanna said officials of the panchayat have visited the location, and they will submit a report on the issue.
Congress leader and MP Manickam Tagore accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state of “trying to spread the ideology and philosophy of Godse”.
“The people of Karnataka will reply to the RSS and BJP strongly whenever they get the opportunity. Karnataka is a state which believes in Gandhiwad and celebrates it. I hope that the chief minister of the state (Basavaraj) Bommai removes the name wherever it is mentioned,” Tagore said.
A BJP spokesperson said that the party condemns any such signboards, and the police should take appropriate action.
