BJP to market schemes of Modi, Yogi govts
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Uttar Pradesh has launched a massive campaign to highlight the initiatives of the party’s governments at the Centre and in the state.
The campaign would be run both physically and virtually, party leaders said, adding innovative folk songs to popularise the schemes would also be played in the rural countryside.
The steps to market these initiatives include putting a booklet detailing various government schemes in waterproof bags provided by the Yogi Adityanath government to all beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PM-GKAY) and asking cadres to visit rural households to enlist beneficiaries.
A booklet titled ‘Iradey nek, kaam anek (honest intentions, several achievements) prepared by chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s government too has been distributed to party lawmakers for ready access, “recall and repeat” among the masses.
Besides, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to virtually launch phase 2 of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjawala Yojana from UP on August 10, officials indicated. Uttar Pradesh is due for assembly elections early next year.
The first phase of the Ujjawala Yojana, too, was launched from UP (Ballia) in 2016, a little ahead of the 2017 state assembly polls. This time, the scheme could be virtually launched from Bundelkhand, it was learnt.
During his interaction with five beneficiaries of PM-GKAY in UP on Thursday, PM had listed many of his schemes, a strategy that BJP chief JP Nadda has now directed the party’s state unit to adop ahead of the polls. “Of the nearly eight crore beneficiaries of the Ujjawala Yojana, 2.54 crore families benefitted in UP alone,” Nadda told party cadres in Lucknow and asked them to popularise these schemes.
The BJP leadership has been telling the cadres to highlight how UP has been the biggest beneficiary of the various initiatives of the centre and how UP has also launched a campaign to cover all eligible poor, still not enlisted in the various social security schemes. For instance, under Ayushman Bharat, Nadda said more than 50 crore people across the country had got annual Rs 5 lakh medical insurance cover and 2.54 crore benefitted from it.“in UP, 1.83 crore people have benefitted so far,” Nadda told cadres. He also added: “Those left out of the scheme so far are now being covered under Mukhyamantri Jan Arogya Yojana of the Yogi Adityanath government.”
The emphasis on a state scheme launched with the idea of covering those who were left out of Ayushman Bharat is part of the party plan.
“We are going to talk about how UP is changing. The state is now number two on the ease of doing business. That in itself is a big achievement for a state that was part of BIMARU states not very long back. From vaccination, Covid testing, hospital beds, oxygen availability, we have made rapid progress. So, we will of course tell the people that while the world praised India, the opposition was happy criticising us,” a BJP leader said.