Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going to address a rally at Mhow, Madhya Pradesh on April 14th and a directive has been issued to the private and government engineering colleges of Indore district which makes it compulsory for them to send 100 students each in the rally. The opposition party, Congress has criticized this move and claims it shows that BJP is not sure of attracting large crowd in the rally.
The colleges have been directed to send a teacher with the students and also arrange for their transportation for the rally at Mhow which is nearly 30 kms from Indore. 14th April is the birth anniversary of Dr. Ambedkar and Mhow is the birthplace of Dr. Ambedkar.
The colleges are facing a tough situation here as many of them are conducting examinations at that time while some don’t have vehicles to provide transportation for rally.
The directive was issued on 7th April and signed by Mohini Shrivastava, Assistant Commissioner (tribal welfare). She stated, “The engineering and management colleges themselves volunteered to send students. Where will they get such exposure of volunteering in a rally to be addressed by the PM. We will issue them certificates. We want shraddhalus (devotees). Only those interested in serving will turn up. If they don’t, there’s little we can do.” However, she also denied knowledge of any such directive being issued in the past.
Dr. R S Varma, the Additional Director (higher education), has maintained that students who are a part of NCC and NSS will only be asked to become volunteers and as most of the colleges are facing the problem of vehicles, he will make sure that at least 400 students should reach the venue while “the remaining students will be asked to be ready at 7 am at their respective colleges. Their participation will depend on the availability of vehicles.”
This move has been condemned by Congress as its spokesperson K K Mishra said that a directive like this has never been given in the past and BJP government is compelling the students since they are not sure of a large crowd in the rally; besides, “It’s also an indication of Modi’s declining popularity.”
However, BJP spokesperson Dr Hitesh Bajpai stated that this has been done to reduce the involvement of police in rally. He also said, “Modiji is very popular among youngsters. The participation of students is likely to be very high and volunteers will be needed to attend to them. NCC and NSS volunteers will be very keen to do the duty.”