The Wire Staff 
Srinagar: On January 23, several students and teachers participated in a ‘Tiranga’ rally organised by Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarti Parishad (ABVP) in Poonch of Jammu and Kashmir. A day before the rally, the J&K administration had ordered the education department in the Poonch district to ensure the participation of students and teachers in it.
The issue has stoked fresh controversy in J&K with Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) alleging that the National Conference government was forcing the students to attend the ABVP’s “ideological event” while blaming it for using “education as a propaganda tool”.
A prominent association of tribal students in Poonch district also demanded an inquiry into the event.
The rally has raised serious questions about the functioning of the education department and its activities in Jammu and Kashmir, and the efficacy of the elected government led by chief minister Omar Abdullah which has faced criticism for cozying up to the ruling BJP.
Letter on social media
The controversy gathered momentum on Friday, January 24, after a letter written to the chief education officer (CEO) of Poonch by the additional district magistrate of Poonch was shared multiple times on social media.
The letter, sent on Wednesday, January 22, directed the department to “send 40 to 50 students along with two teachers” in the Tiranga Rally that was held by ABVP, the student wing of the ruling Bhartiya Janta Party on Thursday, January 23.
Earlier, Kanav Bali who is ABVP convenor and coordinator of Poonch, had sought permission for the ‘Tiranga rally’ ahead of the 76th Republic Day celebrations in a letter to the district administration on January 20, according to officials.
The permission was granted two days later on January 22 with seven conditions which prohibited the use of “derogatory activities that could hurt the feeling of a particular community, caste, creed and religion”.
The permission letter also prohibited the organisers from using a music system in the rally, raising slogans or indulging in acts which could be “detrimental to peace and public order” while fixing the responsibility of “any adverse wrongdoing” on the organisers.
The CEO forwarded the permission letter on the same day to nine private and public schools in Poonch with the “request to go through the contents of the above said permission” while urging the heads of these institutions to send students and teachers to participate in the rally.
‘Our school children will march’
Officials said that the rally started from the Poonch degree college and passed through Nakhawali Road, City Chowk and Qila Market before returning to the college playground. Hundreds of children and some officials of the district administration also attended the rally.
Speaking with reporters, deputy commissioner of Poonch Vikas Kundal said that a ‘Tiranga rally’ was carried out by bike riders of the police department which culminated in sports stadium of Poonch, “Another rally is being organised by us in which our school children will march through the market with a big tricolour flag,” he said, referring to the controversial rally.
It was not clear if DC Kundal or other officials of the district administration also participated in the ABVP rally. The Wire has tried to seek a comment from Kundal about the event but he could not be reached. This report would be updated if and when the response is received.
‘ABVP is using innocent students’
A video of the event, which was posted by ‘Poonch News’, a Facebook page, showed an unidentified young man, purportedly an ABVP activist, marching in front of the rally in Poonch on Thursday with two women holding an ABVP flex banner. Dozens of students can also be seen marching behind the banner.
The young man can be heard saying that the ABVP had visited all the schools in Poonch ahead of the rally and the students were “excited” about participating in it. ”This is the same Jammu and Kashmir where statements were given that no one will carry the national flag,” the ABVP activist can be heard saying.
PDP leader Iltija Mufti castigated the Omar Abdullah government on the issue, alleging that it has “made it mandatory for both private & public school children across Poonch to attend a rally organised by ABVP the RSS affiliated student wing that normalises anti- Muslim bigotry. Using education as a propaganda tool by forcing students to attend ideological events is unacceptable,” she said in a post on X.
Gujjar Bakerwal Students Alliance demanded a probe into the rally, “How can the CEO Poonch and DM Poonch order government and private schools to participate in the ABVP rally? ABVP is using innocent students, who are unaware of its ideology, for propaganda and politics. It must be investigated under whose direction this permission was granted,” it said on X.