The Congress on Tuesday rejected child rights body NCPCR’s allegation that the party was “using children” for political purposes during its Bharat Jodo Yatra. The Congress said the allegations were “utter lies”. The NCPCR said the Congress violated the law by setting up the “Jawahar Bal Manch” and “exploiting children” for political purposes.
National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) Chairman Priyank Kanoongo said in a tweet that the child rights body has filed a complaint with the Election Commission of India (ECI) about the use of children by the Congress through its Jawahar Bal Manch unit. The child rights body also issued a notice to Congress.
“Congress Jawahar Bal Manch is running a ‘Bacche jodo’ campaign. Children are involved in Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in an organized manner. Congress is breaking the law by abusing children. We have written to the Election Commission to take action,” Priyank Kanoongo said. “The elders are not listening to the Congress, so the party is using children as crowd mobilisers for Rahul Gandhi’s visit,” he said. Priyank Kanoongo said it is up to the Election Commission to recognize the matter.
The NCPCR chief said it was a “violation” of constitutional principles to open a political department for children under 18 years of age. The Congress responded to the NCPCR allegations by calling them lies. Jairam Ramesh said, “This is a complete lie which we do not expect from the head of a statutory body even given his RSS/BJP links. It is clear that he is following the footsteps of those who tell him what to do. We have submitted a detailed memorandum to the EC on the fake NCPCR complaints.”
The Congress also told the Election Commission that the party did not violate the Representation of the People Act during the Bharat Jodo Yatra. He further stated that no child was used for the campaign. It also condemned the NCPCR report as “frivolous” and “baseless”.
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