Minister writes incorrect 'beti padhao' slogan in Hindi, Opposition takes aim

A video of Union minister Savitri Thakur writing the 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' slogan in Hindi incorrectly during an event in Madhya Pradesh has surfaced on social media, with the Opposition Congress questioning her credentials. The event was organised under the 'School Chalo Abhiyan' on Tuesday at a government school at Bramha Kundi in Dhar.

Thakur, who is a Lok Sabha member from Dhar seat and has been appointed minister of state for women and child development, was the chief guest at the programme. The video shows Thakur writing the 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' slogan in Devanagari script on a whiteboard in an incorrect manner, appearing to write 'beti padao bacchav'.

Reacting to the viral video, senior Congress leader K.K. Mishra said, "It is the misfortune of democracy that people who hold Constitutional posts and are responsible for big departments are not competent even in their mother tongue. How can they be capable of running their ministry?"

He said the Constitution should be amended to fix the minimum educational qualification of candidates in the elections. "On the one hand, the country's citizens are being claimed to be literate, while on the other hand, there is lack of literacy among the responsible people. So what is the truth? This is an issue related to the system and not to any individual," Mishra, media advisor to MP Congress president Jitu Patwari, said.

Dhar district BJP president Manoj Somani alleged that the Congress' uproar over the video of a mistake committed by a minister in a hurry during the School Chalo Abhiyan shows their "petty and anti-tribal thinking".

"Savitriji's feelings and sentiments are pure, but Congressmen are not able to keep their sentiments pure. The tribal community will not forgive the insult of a tribal woman," he said.

Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly Umang Singhar, a tribal leader from Dhar district, also took a swipe at Thakur in a post on his X account. "What kind of leadership is this? Does Prime Minister Narendra Modi want only rubber stamp ministers in his government? There is no set standard for how a public representative should be, but at least they should be literate," he stated.

Singhar questioned how Thakur could not even write two words properly despite being an MP and Union minister. "It can be understood what the children must have felt when they saw her writing incorrectly. What kind of leadership will she provide in the Central government can only be imagined. Voters should have thought before electing such a public representative," he said.

The Modi government also does not want educated leaders who raise questions, because education does not only impart literacy, it also changes the thinking towards the upliftment of society, Singhar stated.