Row Over Telangana Officer's 'Children Must Clean Toilets' Remark

Comments by a Telangana government official - Alagu Varsini, about Dalit students at state-run gurukuls and hostels made to do 'chores', i.e., clean their toilets and rooms and even make some of their own food - have triggered a row, with the opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi demanding her transfer and the National Commission for Scheduled Caste seeking details.

The NCSC on Monday issued a notice to the Telangana Chief Secretary, K Ramakrishna Rao, and the Director-General of the police, Dr Jitender, asking about the 'derogatory' comments.

Replies have been sought within a fortnight.

Ms Varshini's sacking has also been demanded by her predecessor, Praveen Kumar, who told NDTV, in a deeply sarcastic note, that she could first "teach the Chief Minister and his children and grandchildren holistic habits".

The BRS, meanwhile, has said that Ms Varsini's comments - about children "who don't belong to posh families', a comment seen as referring to Dalit kids - is "pushing children (from that community) into the same situation as they have been for generations" rather than helping.

BRS leader K Kavitha ripped into the ruling Congress, whom she also accused of stopping grants of Rs 40,000 per month to hire four temp workers per school for cleaning tasks. This, she said on X, had been set aside when the BRS of ex-Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao was in power.

"The Congress government has also done away with having assistant caretakers in 240 schools, forcing children to take up the role of wardens and manage kitchens. Now the officer is forcing students to clean toilets! Her statements go against the very concept of establishing gurukuls... to protect students from marginalised communities from caste and class bias..." she said.

Congress government's anti-poor attitude is reflected in this shocking behaviour by an official, at Social Welfare Gurukul Society.

The evidence of which is available in the audio clip !!

Each social welfare school was granted Rs 40,000 per month during the BRS rule for hiring… pic.twitter.com/GcDfgKHXBl

— Kavitha Kalvakuntla (@RaoKavitha) May 28, 2025

"This behaviour is discriminatory, exploitative, and violates basic principles of child rights and dignity. It only reflects (Chief Minister) Revanth Reddy' government's anti-poor and anti-Dalit attitude! I demand the government immediately take steps to remove the officer and start giving the required funds to run social welfare schools properly," the BRS leader wrote on X.

The row over Ms Varsini's comments broke late last month after an audio clip surfaced in which she was heard saying "holistic education includes teaching sanitation and personal hygiene".

Ms Varsini spoke to NDTV and said that her intention was, and remains, to ensure children in her care receive an all-round education, both from books and lessons on "self-care".

#NDTVExclusive | "We aim to provide holistic education " : Alagu Varsini (@Alagu19066600), Secretary, Residential Institute Society on BRS leader Kavitha's 'anti-poor' charges against Congress government, saying "kids used to clean toilets"; Congress denies charges@umasudhir pic.twitter.com/NwRfV6zTqe

— NDTV (@ndtv) May 28, 2025

"... the children come to us when they are 10 years old and leave when they are 18. In that time we want to provide a holistic education, not just a bookish education. If they enter the system at nine or 10 years old, and I make them study for nine hours and send them back, then what will they learn about self-care or cleanliness? Is education only from books? I don't think so."

Last week, Ms Varsini, who is Secretary of the Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society, called out the 'selective editing' of a speech that led to this row.

The ruling Congress has hit back, meanwhile, at the BRS, accusing it of trying to undermine the development of the state and of being unable to digest the election defeat last year.

#NDTVExclusive | "Kavitha not able to digest development" : Congress MP Mallu Ravi (@DrMalluRavi1) to NDTV's @umasudhir pic.twitter.com/RWGVsskJcD

— NDTV (@ndtv) May 28, 2025

"This is a political comment by Kavitha," Congress MP Mallu Ravi told NDTV, referring to the BRS leader's X post. "I do not agree if students are washing or cleaning anything... but I don't know if this is happening. The idea is not to make students clean... it is to make them study well."