Farmers Movement Archive

Campaign plans to Covid-19: Five takeaways from BJP’s national executive summit

As the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) national executive on Sunday held its first meeting after the 2019 general elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the key session and took a swipe at family-run parties.Saying that the BJP does not revolve around a family-centric set-up, PM Narendra Modi spelt out that “sewa (service), sankalp (resolution) and samarpan (commitment)” continue to be the core values of his party.Sunday’s event was also the BJP national executive’s first meeting after the Covid-19 pandemic was declared in early 2020.A total of 342 members of the national executive committee, the apex policy-making body of the BJP, attended the summit.Here is a list of five most important takeaways from the meeting of the BJP top brass:1.Political resolution passedUttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath proposed the need for a “political resolution” to ensure victory in the upcoming assembly elections in seven states. “There is a specific mention that we shall ensure victory in the upcoming elections,” finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said regarding the 18-point resolution that was passed in the meeting.The resolution praised PM Narendra Modi’s leadership and accused the Opposition of “opportunism” and a mindset of “extreme hate”.Also Read: PM Modi, senior leaders wish LK Advani; visit his home to celebrate birthdayThe resolution also slammed Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) for having allegedly “sponsored violence” against BJP workers in the state and vowed to ensure justice through legal means.The political resolution was seconded by Tamil Nadu’s BJP president K Annamalai.Six BJP leaders - tourism ministers G Kishan Reddy, Manipur CM N Biren Singh, sports minister Anurag Thakur, Goa CM Pramod Sawant, railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, and Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami - also spoke on the political resolution.2.Campaign plans for state pollsThe chief ministers and state BJP presidents of four poll-bound states – Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, and Manipur – gave a presentation on the coming assembly elections.A similar presentation was given by the BJP’s Punjab president Ashwani Sharma, who announced that the party will contest in all 117 seats in the state’s 2022 polls. BJP president JP Nadda urged party members to set up a “party committee” for every polling booth. He also asked for more arrangements for the broadcast of PM Narendra Modi’s outreach programme Mann Ki Baat at every booth, according to an ANI report.Home minister Amit Shah also addressed the matter, urging party workers to set up committees in all the 1.04 million polling booths in the country by December 25, with special attention to states where polls are due next year. The party has also been asked to appoint “panna pramukhs” at all these booths by April 6, 2022.The seven states slated to go to polls are Goa, Manipur, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat.3.Tackling Covid-19 pandemicThe party lauded the Centre’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, calling the mobilisation of medical support “commendable”. “While lauding the commendable work of vaccination done in India, we also remember how the Opposition parties had raised many questions on vaccination carried by the government from the very beginning,” said Sitharaman after the summit. The party hailed the government for achieving the target of 100 crore vaccinations and its scheme that gave free food grains to 80 crore people.4.Article 370, CAA and NRCWhile briefing the media after the executive meeting, Nirmala Sitharaman said, “We discussed how after the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, the DDC (district development council) and BDC (block development council) elections showed how people were willing to participate in democratic processes.”5.Protest against farm lawsThe BJP is said to have discussed the work done by the Central government in the field of agriculture despite an ongoing protests by farmers over three farm laws passed last year.Referring to the ongoing farmers’ protest at and around New Delhi, Sitharaman said, “We are open for talks. Please tell us what you are opposed to in the laws. We have not been told what the objection is and their (the farmers) story is incomplete. We are still willing to listen to the farmers.”

Hindustan Times

08-11-2021

India