Gujarat official suspended over Godse topic in school competition

Mitaben Gavli, a probationary class-2 district youth development officer, was suspended immediately after minister of state for sports, youth and cultural activities Harsh Saghavi assured action in the matter.

A youth development officer was suspended and an inquiry launched by the youth services and cultural activities department of the Gujarat government on Wednesday after an elocution competition with “My Role Model - Nathuram Godse” as one of the topics was organised for students in a private school.

A participant who spoke on Nathuram Godse was declared the winner in the school competition in Gujarat.

Mitaben Gavli, a probationary class-2 district youth development officer, was suspended immediately after minister of state for sports, youth and cultural activities Harsh Saghavi assured action in the matter, people familiar with the matter said.

According to the people cited above, the competition for students from classes 5 to 8 in various schools in the district was held at Kusum Vidyalaya on February 14. The topics approved by district officials were ‘All I want to be is a bird and fly in the sky’, ‘I will become a scientist but not go to the US’ and ‘Nathuram Godse, my role model.’

More than 25 schools had participated in the district-level competition. A participant who spoke on Godse was declared the winner, the people said, requesting anonymity.

“I have ordered an inquiry into this incident. We will take action against the guilty,” Sanghavi told reporters in Gandhinagar.

Vivek Desai, a trustee of the school, told reporters that the school had only hosted the event and had not decided on the topics for the event.

“We had only provided our school premises to the department for organising this competition. Not just the subject, even judges for the competition were selected by the Valsad district office,” Archana Desai, administrator of the school, was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

Likewise, a state government official ruled out the involvement of the education department and said the event was organised by the youth and culture department.

After the controversy erupted, Tushar Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, tweeted: “In India, murderers are new heroes.”

Gujarat Congress working president Hardik Patel termed the incident as “shameful”.

“It is unfortunate that certain officers in government of Gujarat are trying to drive the agenda of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state…the Father of the Nation laid down his life for the country and this is how we want our children to learn about his sacrifices?” he said.

Last year, a Godse statue installed by a right-wing group in Jamnagar was vandalised by Congress workers.

“I don’t doubt the patriotism of Godse but it is discriminatory and supports a Hindu Rashtra that seems to be the core ideology of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the present government. The RSS has been trying to spread its ideology since the 1930s. First, they did it through their writings, journals, and forming several organisations, including non-government schools. Now, they and their supporters are trying to take it directly to the masses under the state patronage,” Ghanshyam Shah, a senior sociologist and a retired professor of political science at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, said.