Link with people has given BJP its place: PM
BJP is not run by any family, but by a culture of public welfare, stresses PM Modi at party’s executive meeting
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday expressed confidence that the Bharatiya Janata Party will win the trust of people in assembly polls in five states, due early next year, as the party’s national executive met for the first time since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Addressing the valedictory session of the BJP’s national executive, Modi stressed that the BJP runs on the values of “Sewa, Sanklap aur Samparan (service, resolution and commitment)” and “does not revolve around a family”, party national general secretary and Union minister Bhupender Yadav said quoting the prime minister.
Chief ministers and BJP presidents of four poll-bound states Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur - gave a presentation on upcoming assembly elections at the meeting, Yadav said at a news briefing after the party’s national executive meeting – the first since the Covid-19 pandemic broke.
A similar presentation was given by BJP’s Punjab unit president, he said.
“In his address, Prime Minister Modiji gave a mantra to the party workers that they should become a bridge of faith between the common man and the party, while referring to the party’s history as it has always been associated with the issues close to the common man of the country,” Yadav said. The BJP is not a family-based party, it isn’t run by a family but by a culture of public welfare, Yadav said while quoting Prime Minister Modi.
Referring to the welfare work done by BJP workers during the Covid-19 pandemic, Modi said the ruling party focused on serving the people.
Talking about the presentations on poll-bound states, Modi expressed confidence that the party will win the people’s trust as it has been moving forward by taking up issues close to the people. Modi also spoke about a new initiative of Kamal Pushap launched on the Namo App for paying tributes to all party workers who devoted their entire life to the party.
At the meeting, party president JP Nadda set the tone for the upcoming polls, and called for further strengthening of the party’s organization.
Addressing the meeting, Nadda also reached out to Sikhs, who are in majority in pollbound Punjab, by listing a number of measures the Modi government has taken for the community, including expediting action against 1984 riots accused, facilitating foreign grants to gurudwaras and keeping langars outside the purview of the Goods and Services Tax.
Briefing reporters about the meeting, Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the executive hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s effective leadership during the Covid pandemic, 1 billion vaccinations and providing free food grains to eight billion poor people.
He said that Nadda noted that this is the largest food programme in human history.
On BJP’s growth in West Bengal, Pradhan quoting Nadda said if one looks at its growth in the state from the political science perspective, then there will be very few parallels of it in Indian political history.
According to Pradhan, Nadda said that if one looks at the BJP’s vote share in the 2014 assembly elections and the 2016 assembly elections in West Bengal, and compares them with the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and 2021 assembly polls, it shows substantial growth of the BJP in the state.
Setting new organisation targets for the BJP’s expansion, Nadda said the party will consti
tute booth level committees at all 10.40 lakh polling stations by December 25 this year and have “panna committees”, in reference to each page of voters’ list by April 6.
Citing the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, Pradhan said the executive lauded Modi for his foresight of enacting the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, which aims at providing citizenship to minorities in some neighbouring countries, including Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Following Nadda’s speech, the chief minister of poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, tabled the BJP’s resolution, touching various landmark initiatives taken by the Modi government. Sharing the details of the resolution, Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the resolution specifically mentions that “we shall ensure the party’s victory in upcoming assembly elections”. There is positive, energetic and unconditional support from the national executive to ensure the party’s victory in upcoming elections, she said.
The resolution condemned the opposition’s “opportunistic” politics and its attempts to create fear during the pandemic. BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh read out the condolence resolution. Prime Minister Modi will address the valedictory session of the meet.
The BJP’s national executive meeting, which should be normally held once in three months according to the party’s constitution, is being held for the first time since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic last year.
The party’s national officebearers, its national executive members from the national capital and Union ministers will be physically present in the meeting, while the chief ministers of states where the party is in power and national executive members from these states will virtually attend the meeting.
At the NDMC Convention Centre, the meeting venue, musicians from across the country played traditional instruments to greet those attending the meet. Prime Minister Modi while entering the venue met women, who in their traditional Chath attire and singing songs praising the Sun god, performed puja and rituals. Chath will be performed in many parts of the country, especially in eastern parts of poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand on November 10.