The minimum age for becoming a BJP member is 18 years and party functionaries claimed that the system does not accept entry below that age and thus no OTP is generated.
Sources said the school authorities had made it mandatory for all students to bring mobile phones to the school to enrol themselves as BJP members. (File)
Following reports and allegations of school students being made Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members in an ongoing primary membership campaign in Gujarat’s Surendranagar district, the state’s ruling party as well as the education department have launched an investigation into the matter.
A notice has been issued to the school management by the education department.
According to some reports and purported screenshots of a WhatsApp group of the KU M R Gardi Vidyalaya, a higher secondary grant-in-aid school in Anindra village of Surendranagar’s Wadhwan taluka, students from Class 9 and upwards have been enrolled as BJP members with their “membership cards” also generated and shared in the group.
Surendranagar BJP district president Hitendrasinh Chauhan called the exercise an action to defame the party.
“Legal action will be taken against everyone behind this. I am investigating who is involved… As per primary investigation that we have conducted, it was revealed that no party member, taluka president, village sarpanch, or worker had gone to the school for the membership drive,” Chauhan told The Indian Express.
The minimum age for becoming a BJP member is 18 years and party functionaries claimed that the system does not accept entry below that age and thus no OTP is generated.
Pointing out that there are over 700 villages and 1,000 schools in the district, Chauhan asked why students of only one school were asked to become members.
“Why only one school and not 1,000 if that was the case? So it is clear that somebody is behind this conspiracy to defame the party,” he added.
The school authorities could not be contacted for comment on the matter.
Surendranagar district education officer (DEO) A M Ojha said, “Through media report only we learnt that some school management or teaching faculty member had asked students to bring their mobile phones and a registration of a political party was conducted. Immediately, we took action and appointed a Class 2 official for an inquiry into the case. A notice has been issued to the school management.”
Sources said the school authorities had made it mandatory for all students to bring mobile phones to the school to enrol themselves as BJP members.
Meanwhile, a similar case was reported in Surendranagar district in which authorities at a private school had allegedly asked parents to become BJP members.
“There is nothing wrong in that as school authorities had only requested parents in a WhatsApp group to become members. No student was asked to do that and even for parents, it was not made mandatory,” Chauhan told The Indian Express.
