Gujarat college principal asks students to join BJP, sacked

In the wake of the public outcry over a principal asking students of a women’s college in Bhavnagar city to become members of Bharatiya Janata Party “page committee”, she resigned from her post on Monday. The parties in opposition, the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party, lashed out at the ruling party for politicising educational campuses.

Ranjanbala Gohil, the in-charge principal of Smt N C Gandhi and Smt B V Gandhi Mahila Arts and Commerce College in Bhavnagar, had issued a notice on June 24, asking the students to become members of the “page committee”.

The notice stated: “All the students are to be informed to become members of the page committee of BJP; all students should come with their passport size photos. Only those students living in Bhavnagar city limits are eligible to become members.”

The notice also said that all students were to “take note of it” and that they were required to come to the college with their mobile phones to “join the membership drive of the BJP party”.

Once the notice became public knowledge, Congress and AAP accused the BJP of using educational institutions for political gains. Local Congress leaders sought immediate suspension of the in-charge principal and submitted a memorandum. The AAP leaders, meanwhile, termed the incident "unfortunate".

Executive director and spokesperson of Bhavnagar Stree Kelavani Mandal Trust, Dhiren Vaishnav, told DH: “The in-charge principal has herself tendered (her) resignation today, while accepting it as her moral responsibility. After a meeting with the Vice-Chancellor, it was decided to seek an explanation from her.”

He said that the trust, which ran nine educational institutions—from kindergarten to college-- had “a reputation of an apolitical institution”.

With Assembly elections just a few months away, the BJP started a membership drive across the state, to recruit members for its much-hyped five-member “page committees” on every electoral roll.