Kerala cadre IAS Sanjay Kaul hired to re-create God's Own Country in Modi's Gujarat

Gujarat’s tourism campaign has always used Guest as God motto to woo tourists, but now it has hired an IAS officer from God’s Own Country Kerala to anchor the state’s tourism drive. Kaul Sanjay Moolchand, a 2001 IAS batch Kerala cadre IAS, is taking over as managing director of Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Ltd (TCGL), and is expected to kick-start a campaign involving Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan who was already hired as Gujarat’s brand ambassador.

An engineer by profession, Sanjay Kaul (left in the picture on top) originally belongs to the state of Gujarat and his parents still live in Vadodara. He is now on a deputation to Gujarat cadre for a period of three years. 41-year-old Sanjay had earlier served as a director in Kerala’s tourism department between November 2006 and December 2007. Current MD, TCGL, Anoop Shukla has been sent back to his parent cadre.

Several IAS officers from Kerala cadre have excelled in the field of tourism, the most famous face being 1980 batch IAS Amitabh Kant who was the man behind the “Incredible India” campaign.

For Sanjay Kaul, the challenge now is to create a new campaign and meaningfully rope in Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan. While Vibrant Gujarat campaign has been a success story in wooing multi-billion dollar investment into the state, it remains to be seen whether Aavo Padharo or the Gujarati words of welcome can create a similar buzz at the national and international spectrums.