The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: The district education officer of Surandranagar in Gujarat has issued a notice to the principal of the M.R. Gardi Secondary and Higher Secondary School in Anindra village, where students were allegedly enrolled as Bharatiya Janata Party members through their parents’ phones.
The New India Express has reported that a Class-2 officer was appointed to conduct a departmental inquiry and is required to submit a report within three days.
State BJP chief and Union Jal Shakti minister C.R. Patil had last week launched the party’s ‘Sadasyata Abhiyan 2024’ in Ahmedabad, setting an ambitious target of 2 crore members for the BJP in the state.
Vibes of India has reported that students were instructed to bring their parents’ mobile phones to an event earlier this week. During that time, secondary school students were handed national flags and photographed before being registered as BJP members through their parents’ phones.
The school’s principal, Mukesh Nimavat, defended the action, claiming the phones were collected to download a government educational app. The institution further alleged that someone with malicious intent was unfairly targeting it.
BJP leader K.C. Patel claimed that official party membership can only be registered at the booth level and denied any involvement in the incident. Patel also claimed that the “technology” prohibits anyone under the age of 18 from joining the party.
Congress spokesperson Dr Manish Doshi accused the BJP of using teachers as tools to gather support ahead of upcoming teacher union elections.
The Surendranagar education officer Arvind Ojha told reporters, according to NIE, “Upon learning that the secondary school in Anindra village is a grant-in-aid institution, we issued a notice to the school administrator, demanding an explanation within three days.”