Aaditya, Cong slam BJP’s CAA campaign at Matunga school; edu min orders probe

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) ‘Support CAA’ campaign at a school in the city stirred up a controversy on Saturday, with state minister from Shiv Sena, Aaditya Thackeray, calling it “ridiculous” and the Congress demanding “strong action” against the party organisers and the school management. The BJP, too, hit out at its critics, calling it “dirty politics”.

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State’s school education minister Varsha Gaikwad said she has ordered an inquiry into the matter. “This is very wrong. I wasn’t aware of any such event. There are so many platforms where they [BJP] can do their politics. I have ordered an inquiry. We will not allow schools to be used as political platforms,” she said,

The BJP, as part of its pro- Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) campaign, has started approaching schools in the city to create awareness about the law. The party had on Friday organised a talk on CAA at Dayanand Balak Vidyalaya on Bhimani Street in Matunga. “Students were given information about CAA,” said an organiser of the programme from BJP. Sumita Singh, a leader of the Uttar Bharatiya Morcha and a trustee of the school, who had organised the programme, said, “Students were given postcards pre-addressed to the PM and were encouraged to post them, after writing what they feel about CAA.”

The initiative received a lot of flak from the ruling Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies. “To campaign about an Act in schools is ridiculous. What is the need for such political campaigning justification, if there is no ill intent? Politicisation of schools mustn’t be tolerated,” Thackeray posted on social media on Saturday. In response to his post, BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari said, “CAA is not a political thing. These people are playing dirty politics. CAA is a national duty.”

Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant, too, took to social media to demand action against the organisers. “[I] demand strong action against all those BJP Maharashtra workers who tried to pervert the minds of school students,” he posted.