BJP’s agenda: making 10 crore members work

The Land Acquisition Bill and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign policy initiatives from “Bhutan to the US” will be the twin focus of deliberations at the BJP’s national executive meet that starts here on Friday.

The ruling party expects to notch up as many as 10 crore members by April 30, which makes it the biggest political party in the world.

The meet here will discuss how to harness this stupendous organisational strength towards pushing the political agenda of the leadership, most significantly the Land Bill.

On Friday, a PowerPoint presentation on the Land Bill is expected to be made to the delegates. Although the party did not officially confirm this, with the senior ministers maintaining that the agenda of the meeting is still being chalked out by the office-bearers who met on Thursday, it was more or less certain that it will be discussed.

All that remains to be decided is whether the presentation and the discussion will happen on Friday or Saturday.

“Party president Amit Shah has constituted a committee which is meeting farmers’ organisations in every state. We have also incorporated various amendments in the ordinance that will be re-promulgated. By and large, we are satisfied with the groundwork that has been done on the Land Bill,” said Law Minister DV Sadanand Gowda.

A foreign policy resolution highlighting the PM’s various initiatives and the new policy thrust will be presented during the meeting. BJP leader Ram Madhav is most likely going to introduce this resolution while Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj will give a few salient points.

Rajya Sabha MP Bhupender Yadav will move a political resolution. There will be no separate economic resolution this time. A political-economy resolution is likely to be presented and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is expected to make some comments on it.

With a strong membership base, the party is planning to roll out two new initiatives — Sampark Abhiyan (mass contact) from May 1to July 31 and Abhyas Vargh (orientation) from August 1 to October 31. Under these, members will fan out into the interiors of the country to touch every village and explain the good governance and pro-people policies initiated by the BJP government at the Centre.

“The exercise will help to familiarise and acquaint new members to the BJP’s and culture and policies, and instil leadership qualities in them,” said party spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain. The national executive also pledged to involve the new members in celebrating the party’s founder’s day as a mass awareness drive on April 6, with plans to celebrate International Yoga Day on June 21.

“These exercise are not to create a vote bank but with national interest as a whole,” explained Shahnawaz Hussain.

COMMENT NOW