Central school plucks lotus off logo, sparks row

FLOWER POWER: The lotus in the KVS logo will be replaced by a globe.

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New Delhi: An innocuous little change is threatening to snowball into a full-fledged political controversy.

The largest chain of primary and secondary schools in India run by the government, the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) has decided to modify its logo.

The only problem is the lotus – the BJP election symbol and also a flower associated with Goddess Saraswati – has been replaced by a globe.

The saffron brigade is crying foul. "This shows lack of rationale. Does this mean Nehru was irrational?" asks former Human Resource Development minister Murli Manohar Joshi.

A survey earlier this year included KVS among the top 50 brands in schools in major cities across the country.

In some cities they have been ranked much above premier institutes like the IITs.

The decision to modify the logo of this top Government brand was taken earlier this year in a meeting of the KVS board of governors headed by HRD Minister Arjun Singh.

Last month, all the 980 schools were informed about making required changes in the logo to reflect "broader national ethos and advances in science and technology".

The KVS denies political intentions in designing the new logo.

"There is no politics behind it. We are going global as we have three KVS abroad, so the change has been undertaken," says KVS Joint Director (administration), Pragya Richa Srivastava.