Madhya Pradesh SDM suspended over minister Kailash Vijayvargiya’s controversial remark

INDORE: Madhya Pradesh's sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) was suspended on Sunday for allegedly including Congress allegations and minister Kailash Vijayvargiya’s controversial ‘ghanta’ in an official order, officials said.

Ujjain Division Revenue Commissioner Ashish Singh took the action, citing “serious negligence, indifference and irregularities in the discharge of official duties,” according to officials.




The SDM had issued an order on Saturday directing subordinate revenue staff to maintain law and order ahead of a Congress protest in Dewas scheduled for Sunday. However, a section of the Congress memorandum was copied verbatim into the official order, which a senior official called “serious negligence.”

The Congress memorandum criticised the BJP government over the Indore water contamination crisis and cited Vijayvargiya’s use of the word ‘ghanta’ in response to a journalist’s question, describing it as “inhumanity and authoritarianism.”

It instructed party workers, under the guidance of state Congress president Jitu Patwari, to hold ‘ghanta’ protests by ringing bells outside the homes of BJP MPs and MLAs in the state. The protest aimed to condemn what the party called the “inhuman behaviour” linked to the deaths caused by contaminated water in Bhagirathpura, Indore.

Vijayvargiya, the state’s Urban Development and Housing Minister, had sparked a row on December 31 when he used the word ‘ghanta’ on camera while responding to a question about the water contamination crisis. The term is commonly understood to mean “nonsense.”

Officials confirmed six deaths so far due to diarrhoea caused by contaminated water, while Mayor Pushyamitra Bhargav said he had information on 10 deaths linked to the outbreak. Local residents, however, claimed that 16 people, including a six-month-old infant, had died in the incident.