Keeping the Party Going
The BJP government is already pre-empting any anti-incumbency five years down the line
As early as 6 am every morning, there’s a rush of people from all over the state waiting to register with the Jan Sahyog Kendra— the BJP’s public grievances cell at the party headquarters in Lucknow. In just a few hours, over 500 have signed up and are waiting patiently to be heard. After 11 am every day, one minister from the Yogi Adityanath government and two party officebearers assigned to record people’s complaints, show up to give them a hearing. Anand Panday, who reportedly tracks every complaint till it’s resolved, says it’s part of a larger strategy to “pre-empt anti-incumbency” that might build over the next five years in power.
A state general secretary of the party, who didn’t wish to be named, reveals the game plan: “Janata sarkar se bhale naraaz ho
jaye, lekin BJP se naraaz na ho (Even if the people become upset with the government, they must never be upset with the BJP).” It’s a huge challenge, given the party’s overwhelming majority in the state—71 MPs and 325 out of the 403 MLAs in the UP assembly. And part of that challenge is to keep the legions of party workers engaged.
The Lucknow office of J.P.S. Rathor, state BJP vice-president, is biometric access-controlled. Rathor, an MTech from Banaras Hindu University, is overseeing the verification of some 125,000 booth-level committees that the party had constituted ahead of the assembly polls. Elsewhere, the party’s organisational secretary, Sunil Bansal, who is credited with a big portion of the BJP’s success in UP, has divided the state into 1,471 organisational mandals. The mandals, consisting of workers on the ground, will henceforth serve as units for BJP leaders to engage with the people.
The party has also initiated a pilot project to formulate public conduct and ‘engagement guidelines’ for its 205 first-time MLAs. Launched in Moradabad, Mallawan and Chunar assembly segments, the project involves the ‘close observation’ of the legislators in the field by two party officebearers assigned to each constituency. Bansal says the feedback will be used to evolve strategies on how the MLA janata darbars will be shaped.
The party also has plans to launch a toll-free number through which constituents can connect directly with their MLA. Every complaint received will be routed to the MLA concerned. “In turn,” Bansal says, “since all complaints are being centrally monitored, the MLA will be bound to respond within 24 hours.” Also, in something like what the AAP had promised during its first, abortive stint in Delhi, BJP legislators in UP have been asked to organise a weekly ‘open house’ in their respective constituencies, both to inform people of local developmental work as well as to take note of objections or complaints of irregularities. To ensure efficiency, Bansal says all state ministers have been in-
AN RSS LEADER BLASTED THE BJP FOR PRIORITISING THE GOVERNMENT OVER THE RSS
structed to set aside Tuesdays to meet MLAs and take note of their constituency’s concerns. In addition, each of the party’s 71 MPs have also been told to make weekly visits to meet voters at a minimum of five booths in their Lok Sabha constituencies.
Some of the BJP’s organisational overdrive in UP may also have been prompted by the RSS. In late May, the RSS’s Awadh prant sahkaryavah Narendra Singh had bitterly criticised the BJP for according the government precedence over the organisation: Satta ke aage sangathan ka is prakar gaud hona bhi shubh lakshan nahin hai (It’s not a good sign that the organisation is losing significance in the face of the government),” Singh had said in a Facebook post.
In a bid to assuage its critics, the BJP has appointed a minister for every district, who will hold separate meetings with party and RSS workers, district functionaries and the local administration. The ministers have been asked to file regular reports to the party leadership and CM Adityanath. Alongside the organisational push, senior BJP ministers in Lucknow say the party is pressing on with its membership drive in Uttar Pradesh. They claim that a million new people have joined, taking the BJP’s membership in the state to 19 million.