It has not even been a week since the Congress party launched its “Bharat Jodo Yatra” and the party has courted another controversy, this time for using children in political propaganda.
A complaint has been lodged with the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), against the Congress party and its children’s wing called ‘Jawahar Bal Manch’ for targeting minors with political intentions and involving them in political activities.
The Congress party kicked off the Bharat Jodo Yatra, a fancy road-trip from Kanyakumari to Kashmir in an attempt to give a new lease of life to the party in the run up to the various state Assembly elections and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The Bharat Jodo Bacche Jodo campaign is organised by ‘Jawahar Bal Manch’ which as per its official Twitter handle, is a department of Indian National Congress. It was formed to target the children between the age group of 7 to 18 years and its ‘Patron Membership Campaign’ was launched on 18 December 2021.
The official website of the Jawahar Bal Manch, states that it seeks to inculcate in children the qualities of social values, creativeness and innovation, personal effectiveness, proactive participation in social and national causes, adherence to democratic, secular and socialist ideals and to take pride in the nation. The need to ingrain in young minds the concepts fraternity, equality and compassion is one of the key purposes of the gatherings of this group, it states.
Rahul Gandhi as part of his political campaign has been visiting schools, and interacting with minor children making them participate in political campaigns and inculcating political ideology in them.
The party through its social media handles has been publishing several videos of Rahul Gandhi’s yatra and his interactions. There are several images and videos that have been circulating in social media that shows children being targeted and made to participate in the campaign with a political agenda under the slogan ‘Bharat Jodo Bacche Jodo’.
The minor children participating in the campaign were seen holding Indian National Congress party flags and shouting political slogans.
“It is highly disturbing that a political party has set up an internal department to mobilise minor children in its activities which are contradictory to the provisions under section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.”, the complaint filed by NGO watchdog Legal Rights Protection Forum (LRPF) noted.
The complaint also stated that the Election Commission of India and quasi-judicial bodies, including the NCPCR, had made it clear that parading children during election or political campaign is a clear violation of children rights.
The complaint also cited the recent remarks made by Justice Gopinath P of Kerala High Court who said “Children must be totally prohibited from taking part in political rallies, sloganeering etc. Using them like this should not be ok. They do not have the legal right to vote or even drive till they are 18.”
“Using children as props to fulfil their personal political agenda is child abuse which can have a severe long-term impact on their mental health.”, the complaint filed by LRPF stated.
“In this regard, we request you to take necessary stringent action against the Indian National Congress, Jawahar Bal Manch, Mr. Rahul Gandhi and others concerned and also make recommendations to the Election Commission of India to de-recognize Indian National Congress as a political party.”, the complaint concluded.
Lodged complaint with @NCPCR_ against 'JawaharBalManch', a wing of Indian National Congress targeting minor children & using them for its Nation-wide political campaign 'Bharat Jodo' launched by Rahul Gandhi in contravention to provisions of Representation of People Act 1951 pic.twitter.com/wMUzDkN9p5
— Legal Rights Protection Forum (@lawinforce) September 12, 2022
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