Shivraj ‘mama’ to speak to kids via textbooks

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who “loves” to be addressed as “mama (maternal uncle)”, particularly by children, is set to speak to them individually via their school textbooks.

A verdict by Madhya Pradesh high court dismissing the PIL that sought a stay on the move by the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government to print the chief minister’s message on the overleaf of all textbooks being circulated among schoolchildren in the state, has paved the way for his “plan” to be in “touch” with every pupil “individually”.

“We have won the petition. It is up to the chief minister to decide if the school textbooks with his message printed on the overleaf would be circulated in the in the next academic session,” Rajya Sikhya Kendra commissioner D.G. Mukherjee said.

“The message does not contain any political interest. It is purely a motivational message for school students inspiring them to focus on their studies,” she added.

This will be first-of-its-kind move where the chief minister of a state addresses the schoolchildren via their textbooks.

Earlier, in his PIL, Tapan Bhattacharjya had sought the court’s intervention to restrain the state government from going ahead with its plan to circulate school textbooks prefaced with the chief minister’s message, dubbing it a publicity exercise by him.

Inquiries have revealed that of the MP Textbook Corporation, given charge of publishing school textbooks, has already printed 57.20 lakh textbooks prefaced with the chief minister’s message. But, the move has been suspended half-way through following the petition.

The corporation prints around 6.50 crore textbooks every year for distribution among students from Class one to Class X in state-run schools, free of cost.

Now, the chief minister can also use his picture along with message prefacing the textbooks since Supreme Court has lifted the restrictions in this regard, an officer of the corporation said.