A Facebook comment by an official of the Department of Information, Public Relations and Cultural Affairs against the Haryana government’s decision to rename Gurgaon as “Gurugram” eventually led to his suspension.
Thirty-seven-year-old Sandeep Hooda, who was posted as Assistant Information and Public Relations officer at Gohana in Sonipat, had recently posted a comment on his Facebook page against the renaming of the Gurgaon: “Gurugram sounds as if it is not a city, but a new Patanjali product in the market. ‘Gurugram’, a new product of Lala Ramdev, a pure Ayurvedic City,” he had said in the post uploaded on April 13.
The buzz is that some BJP worker took pictures of the post and informed senior functionaries of the party, which led to action against the official. It is being said that his comment against Baba Ramdev, who is Haryana’s brand ambassador, did not do down well with the BJP leaders.
The suspension letter dated May 11 said that he was suspended with immediate effect with disciplinary proceedings being initiated against him under Rule-7 of the Haryana Civil Services (Punishment and Appeal) Rules, 1987.
When contacted, Mr. Hooda said he was yet to receive the suspension order. “I came to know about my suspension through my colleagues. I do not know the reasons for the suspension. So far as the comment against ‘Gurugram’ is concerned, it was a minor matter. It was probably posted by my younger brother. I deleted it after a few people objected to it,” he said.
A senior official of the Department of Information, Public Relations and Cultural Affairs, however, confirmed that the AIPRO had been suspended for making remarks against the Haryana Government on several occasions, including the ‘Gurugram’ comment. “He has made comments against the Haryana government earlier as well. He had also tweeted against the government,” said the official.
The suspended officer is a former journalist and claims to have bagged four awards for his work from the government, which include two from this government.
