5 Big Messages from BJP’s Executive Meet
Full focus on winning the upcoming state elections with all money on Yogi Adityanath in Uttar Pradesh, leave no state an uncharted territory while the Congress base erodes, Jammu & Kashmir is a success story after Article 370 abrogation while BJP is not giving up on West Bengal, 100 crore-plus vaccinations and free ration scheme for 80 crore are big achievements to be showcased, and the opposition is hypocritical — these were the five big messages from the BJP’s National Executive Meeting.
The meeting came amidst the mixed bag that BJP got in the recent by-polls and the challenge it faces in the upcoming five state elections, including four states where it is in power and Punjab where the party announced on Sunday that it will contest all seats. The biggest prize on offer is UP whose Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was chosen to place the political resolution at the National Executive, showing that PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah are throwing their weight behind him. Expanding the BJP machinery further and highlighting its achievements strongly before voters was impressed upon.
Win Elections, Rev Up Electoral Machinery
Top on the agenda was a ‘resolution for victory’ and reviewing the election preparations for the upcoming five state elections with the four BJP chief ministers and five state party presidents briefing the PM and the BJP top brass. The PM appreciated the briefings, saying the state leaders sounded confident about their achievements and hoped people would repose faith in the BJP. The biggest challenge seems in Punjab where the party does not have any ally. Here, the party feels the issue is no longer about the three farm bills but has become one of ‘Sikh identity’ and the National Executive stressed how BJP had done a lot for Sikhs, including opening up the Kartarpur corridor
PM Modi gave the mantra on how to expand the ambit of the BJP further with workers becoming “a bridge of faith for the common man” while BJP President JP Nadda said the party will keep up its efforts to perform in uncharted territories like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Odisha. It was impressed upon that there is no state where BJP’s roots have not deepened while the Congress is eroding. A massive programme to have booth committees in all 10.4 lakh booths in the country (85% of the job is done so far) by December 25, 2021 (birth anniversary of Atal Bihari Vajpayee) and Panna Pramukhs across the country by mid-2022, was rolled out by Nadda.
J&K a Success Story, Not Giving up on Bengal
Faced with the challenge of recent civilian killings in J&K and a sense among party workers in West Bengal that the party has given up on them post the election loss, the BJP’s National Executive gave out a message that J&K was now on a development path and putting behind terrorism since the abrogation of Article 365 in J&K over two years ago. Nadda recounted how both investment and tourism was up in J&K and civilian killings had in fact decreased drastically since 2014. The Rs 28,400 Crore Industry Promotion Scheme for J&K was prominently mentioned. Regarding West Bengal, BJP made it a point to say that the party “stood behind every party worker and will fight for justice to them” in the state, and that the 2021 election result had a positive side to it as the party rose to 38% vote share from literally zilch five years ago, which was unprecedented for such a big state in the country.
Showcase Three Achievements
The National Executive also gave out a univocal message that the party must showcase the 100 crore-plus Vaccinations and free ration scheme for 80 crore people as big achievements and this will bring results in the upcoming elections. Both Nadda and the PM stressed how the country had done the fastest and world’s largest vaccination drive in the world and 100 crore vaccinations were achieved in just nine months. It was also stressed how the Modi government has sent free rations to 80 Crore people each month during the pandemic, which would count as the world’s largest such programme that catered to more than the total population of Europe which stands at 75 crore. The quantum of the PM Kisan Nidhi scheme for farmers till date was put at Rs 1.5 lakh crore, which BJP will showcase to woo the farmers in the polls.
The Opposition’s Hypocrisy
The National Executive also slammed the Opposition on various counts – from criticizing and spreading rumors regarding the vaccination drive to most opposition-ruled states not reducing VAT on fuel after the Centre did so earlier this week. The party’s top leaders said the opposition had practiced “petty-minded” politics during the pandemic and stayed indoors when the pandemic was raging rather than helping people. The references by the Opposition to “BJP’s Vaccine and Modi’s Vaccine” to doubt the vaccination programme were also raised at the meet.
The Prime Minister tried to underline the difference between the BJP and the Opposition parties here, saying the BJP was not a family party but one that runs on the concept of ‘Seva, Sankalp and Samarpan’ for the people.
