Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Feb 17: The two-day national council meeting of the BJP preparatory to the coming Lok Sabha elections began in New Delhi on Saturday evening with an address by the party president JP Nadda hailing the rise of the party under the leadership of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the last 10 years.
Paying glowing tributes to Mr Modi’s leadership, Mr Nadda pointed out that the BJP had ruled in only around five States before Mr Modi’s rise in 2014 and the party was now in power in 12 States with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in power in 17 States. In many states like West Bengal, the BJP was knocking at the doors and was certain to come to power in the next elections, he said.
More than 12,000 delegates from all over the country are attending the national council meet being held at the iconic Bharat Mandapam. Mr Nadda urged the party men to ensure the Modi government scored a hat trick of victories in the upcoming Lok Sabha election, “with record-breaking numbers.”
Mr Nadda’s speech, which was interspersed with delegates chanting “Modi hai toh mumkin hai” (Modi makes everything possible) and “Jai Shri Ram”, and cheers over the women’s reservation Bill, not only talked of the government’s work in terms of development and welfare, but also the growth the party has seen since Mr Modi’s ascent on the national political stage in 2013.
Coining a new acronym, ‘GYAN’ (knowledge), which he broke down as “Gareeb” (poor), “Yuva” (youth), “Annadata” (farmer) and “Nari” (women), Mr Nadda said Mr Modi had broken the “Opposition-built silos of vote bank politics” and worked for these sections regardless of caste and community.
Under Mr Modi’s leadership, he pointed out, the BJP retained power for a second term in Uttar Pradesh with a big win in 2022, and broke the trend of alternating wins in Uttarakhand, and had recently won Assembly elections in three States — Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan — when many thought it to be improbable. In West Bengal, the BJP had risen from 10% votes and three seats to 38.5% and 77 seats in the 2021 Assembly election, Mr Nadda said, asserting that the party would come to power in the State next time.
For the first time, the party had stormed to power in many north-eastern States, including Assam, and had doubled its vote share in Telangana, he said. Rubbishing the contention that the party’s presence had been limited in south India, Mr Nadda said the BJP had 29 Lok Sabha MPs and eight Rajya Sabha MPs from the region as against the corresponding numbers of 28 and seven, respectively, of the Congress party.
“Our party is the only one that still stands on what we stood for in 1951, and we stand by what we believe in, we are an ideologically driven party,” Mr Nadda said, with references to the abolition of the Article 370 according special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and the construction of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.
Mr Nadda spoke at length about the Bharat Ratnas being given by the Modi government to “people who have served our country.” He spoke in glowing terms of Mr Modi’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the conduct of the G-20 summit at the Bharat Mandapam adding, “Even though some elements were trying to obstruct the construction of the Bharat Mandapam — there was a Pragati Maidan here whereas there was no pragati (progress), and construction of a 1971 vintage.” Mr Modi would be addressing the national council on Sunday.
However, ahead of the national council meet, Mr Modi had addressed the national office-bearers of the party on Saturday emphasising that winning 370 seats in the next Lok Sabha election, a figure he had mentioned in his speech in Parliament more than a week ago “will be a true tribute to Shyama Prasad Mookerjee,” the Jan Sangh founder who was resolutely against Article 370. PM Modi added that the party’s candidate in each seat would be “kamal ka phool” (the lotus flower – the party’s symbol) and not any individual face.
The office-bearers were also told by Mr Modi that every booth worker “should now focus on polling booths and ensure at least 370 more votes for the party at each” in the upcoming election compared to that in 2019.
BJP general secretary Vinod Tawde briefed the media after the office bearers meet and said Mr Modi had cautioned party leaders that the Opposition would be raising “unnecessary and emotional issues” during the polls but party members should stick to the issues of development, pro-poor policies and the country’s rising global standing.
He also said efforts should be made by the BJP to win as many seats as they can from those designated “vulnerable” by the party, that is, seats the party has not won before. Mr Tawde said the party would launch a campaign to reach out to beneficiaries of various Central government schemes from February 25.