In Gandhi's Gujarat, elocution competition on 'role model' Godse

The Gujarat government on Wednesday suspended a probationary youth development officer from Valsad district for organising an elocution competition for school students with "My Role Model - Nathuram Godse"- the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi- as one of the topics, an official said.

This issue came to light on Wednesday when local newspapers in the Valsad district published reports claiming that a girl student has won the elocution competition for speaking on the subject -"My Role Model - Nathuram Godse (Maro Adarsh - Nathuram Godse)".

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

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

Within hours, the order suspending Gavli was issued.

The order stated that the officer should have taken extra care in selecting the topics for the elocution competition, which was organised by the department's Valsad office on February 14 at a private school. It was open for students of primary schools in the age group of 11 to 13 years from the entire Valsad district.

"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", the suspension order stated.

When the department sought information from the Valsad district Primary Education Officer, BD Bariaya, he told the department that Gavli had selected these subjects and had written letters to primary schools to inform them about the upcoming elocution competition, said the suspension letter signed by the deputy secretary of the department, Dipak Patel.

"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 said.

After the controversy erupted, the private school management clarified that they had only hosted the event and not organised it.

"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," said Archana Desai, administrator of Kusum Vidhyalaya.