Official suspended on Nathuram Godse topic for Gujarat school contest

Officials in Gujarat have suspended a probationary youth officer from Valsad district for organizing a competition for school students with "My Role Model- Nathuram Godse" as one of the topics.

Local newspapers in the Valsad district published reports on Wednesday that an elocution competition had been won by a girl student whose topic was - "My Role Model - Nathuram Godse (Maro Adarsh - Nathuram Godse)."

Harsh Saghavi, the Minister of State for Sports, Youth and Cultural Activities, suspended Mitaben Gavli, a probationary class-2 District Youth Development Officer for the Valsad district.

"I have ordered an inquiry into this incident. We will take action against the guilty,"In Gandhinagar, Mr Sanghavi spoke to reporters. Ms Gavli was suspended within hours of the order.

According to the order, the officer should have taken extra care when selecting the topics for the elocution competition, which was held by the department's Valsad office on February 14 at a private school.

"In the district-level competition held on February 14, school children were given three subjects to choose from. One of the subjects provided by Gavli was 'My Role Model - Nathuram Godse'. The other two subjects were - 'I like only those birds who fly in the sky' and 'I will become a scientist but will not go to the US", reads the suspension order.

As per the suspension letter signed by Dipak Patel, the deputy secretary of the department, when the department sought information from the Valsad district Primary Education Officer, BD Bariaya said that Ms Gavli had selected these subjects and had informed primary schools about the upcoming competition.

"On February 16, newspapers carried reports about the selection of such controversial subject for the competition. It appears that you have not taken due care in selecting subjects despite being a responsible government officer. Thus, in the interest of public and administrative interest, you are put under suspension with immediate effect," it stated.

Following the controversy, the private school management clarified that they only hosted the event.

Administrator of Kusum Vidhyalaya Archana Desai said that, "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."