A notable school located in India’s capital Delhi but with hundreds of campuses across the country has asked the faculty and the pupils to join the BJP. The Bharatiya Janata Party is the country’s largest political party at present and widely seen as a right-wing party with close ideological and organisational links to the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
While the principal of the school, which has many campuses across the country, claimed the move is voluntary others say it is not.
A report published in one of India’s renowned dailies said that even the pay-cheques of the teachers were held back for not joining the ‘membership campaign’. However, school’s Managing Director Grace Pinto, appointed as the BJP Mahila Morcha’s national secretary in Delhi, confirmed the drive but said it was “absolutely voluntary”.
What is interesting is that the school used WhatsApp to send messages to the students and their guardians to make use of a toll-free number and receive the membership cards. Those receiving the message would then disseminate the number to the administration of the education facility and teachers.
The report further revealed that every person who received that message would also do ‘referrals’ and get 10 other persons join the campaign. Forms to this end were also propagated in the school.
Expressing the agony, a teacher commented, “Our March salaries were delayed and the administration staff has been asking us to give the forms, duly filled, back to them so that our salaries can be disbursed,” Some teachers at other branches of the educational facility authenticated the views.