BJP cadres will reach out to villages with masks, sanitisers

LUCKNOW: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) cadres would visit UP’s countryside on Sunday (May 30) and distribute Covid essentials like masks, sanitisers and immunity boosters among villagers to mark Narendra Modi government’s seventh anniversary.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this time the party has been directed to cut out celebrations and concentrate on ‘seva karya (service)’. In the run-up to the occasion, the party would hold blood donation camps and launch a sensitisation campaign aimed at making villagers realise the need to get vaccinated and tested for Covid.

The UP government has launched a ‘test-trace-treat’ campaign in villages, where Covid has infected many people, unlike in the first wave.

“We have decided to cover at least 20,000 gram sabhas across UP on the seventh anniversary of the BJP government at the centre. Covid essentials like face masks and immunity boosters would be distributed and villages might also be sanitised,” said UP BJP general secretary Govind Narayan Shukla, who will coordinate the rural outreach campaign on May 30.

The distribution of masks and other Covid essentials would be done locally by cadres designated for the purpose in each gram sabha (a cluster of villages comprises gram sabha). Party leaders said they won’t be able to quantify the items the party would distribute. “But, we plan to distribute them in each house in the villages,” said Shukla.

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath too is expected to virtually interact with newly elected village heads (gram pradhans) as the BJP looks to use the Modi government’s seventh-anniversary outreach to soothe frayed nerves in the villages, where the ruling party stood behind the SPin the recent panchayat polls.

“The party would hold blood donation camps and distribute face masks, sanitisers, ration kits, immunity boosters among the villagers and sensitise them about the need for vaccination,” UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev said.

The BJP government has already launched ‘Mera Gaon, Corona Mukt’ campaign and chief minister Yogi Adityanath has been regularly interacting with villagers during his village visits, which have become a regular feature of late.

The government has also announced incentives for villages that do their best to control Covid. The BJP’s anxiousness to address the ‘growing disquiet’ in villages stems from the fact that of the 403 assembly segments, 299 have a rural or semi-rural character. From many of these places, disturbing visuals of villagers burying their suspected Covid dead by the riverside too have surfaced. Party cadres have also been directed to make villagers aware that the government has announced Rs 5,000 for each death where the family is unable to bear expenses of cremation. The state’s labour welfare council too has announced Rs 7500 for cremation in case of death of kin of those labourers working in commercial establishments or industries.

“The opposition is busy discrediting the government despite the fact that people had been burying their dead by the riverside for years. There has also been the practice of ‘jal pravaah’ (putting dead bodies in flowing river water), though Namami Gange initiatives have created awareness,” said Navin Srivastava, UP BJP spokesman.

“We would tell villagers about our efforts to address the situation and the opposition’s belowthe-belt attack at a time when we should be united in fighting the pandemic,” he added.

“There have been many achievements to our credit in the past seven years and service to the poor has been our motto. We have won global praise for our handling of Covid situation and vaccine rollout,” said Radha Mohan Singh, UP BJP in-charge.