Nehru Yuva Kendras being saffronised, says Congress

LUCKNOW: The Congress on Monday accused the NDA government of attempting to saffronise the Nehru Yuva Kendras (NYKs) by nominating BJP and RSS members to the selection committee constituted for block level volunteers across the country.

After saffronising premier institutions like the FTII, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and the union sports ministry were out to nominate BJP and RSS members as NYK block level volunteers, alleged Deepak Singh, Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) general secretary.

Singh demanded a judicial inquiry into the issue, saying the Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangthan was an autonomous body under the union ministry of youth affairs and sports and it should not be politicised. “It’s a Vypam-like scam in making as volunteers get an honorarium of Rs 2500 per month,” Singh claimed.

A process to select the volunteers was initiated through an advertisement. Although names for the selection committee were chosen in almost every district, the selection process was stopped in June 2015 as the committees did not have BJP and RSS nominees, said Singh.

He said the district magistrates were so far responsible for nomination of the selection committee members.

In an apparent departure from practice, the director general, Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangthan, was asked to nominate the members of selection committee in July 2015 to pave way for appointment of BJP and the RSS nominees, claimed Singh. The nominees on the new selection committees were now the BJP and RSS members.