Farmers Movement Archive

BJP’s NEC meet discusses polls, WB violence and Modi’s leadership

At its national executive committee meeting on Sunday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) passed a political resolution praising the leadership and policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, discussed the strategy for the upcoming assembly elections in five states and set new targets for the party’s pan-Indian expansion.The resolution also accused the Opposition of “opportunism” and acting with a mindset of “extreme hate”, while predicting a big win for the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur on the planks of development and the party’s organisational strength.Modi asked BJP members to become a “bridge of faith” between the party and the people and expressed confidence that the BJP will win the trust of people in the upcoming assembly polls in five states. Addressing the valedictory session of the national executive, he stressed that the BJP runs on the values of “Sewa, Sanklap aur Samparan (service, resolution and commitment)” and “does not revolve around a family”, urging its members to work for people, Union minister Bhupender Yadav said, quoting the Prime Minister.Sunday’s meeting, which began with party president JP Nadda’s address and concluded with the PM’s valedictory speech, saw party leaders — some of whom were present virtually — discuss key concerns, including the political violence in West Bengal, the recent bypoll results, and the strategy on the ongoing farmers’ stir, people aware of the developments said.Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath proposed the party’s political resolution.The BJP, which is in power at the Centre and in over a dozen states, has set its eyes on the southern states and set itself the target of setting up booth committees at all 1,040,000 polling stations across India by December 25, getting in place panna pramukhs or voter list page incharges at each of these booths by April 6, 2022, and making provisions for institutionalised broadcast of the PM’s radio show Mann Ki Baat at all booths by May 2022.The BJP isn’t run by a family but by a culture of public service and dedication, Yadav said while quoting Modi.The BJP’s emphasis on expansion comes at a time when the Opposition has been exploring coalitions to take on the BJP at the Centre, and in the face of the party’s inability to take on regional satraps such as the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal. The micromanagement of the electoral process at the grassroots is crucial to retain power in poll-bound states where the party may face anti-incumbency and anger over the deficiencies in key sectors of employment generation and health, people aware of the matter said.“Strengthening the party structure at the lowest levels will be a key step for poll preparation in all the five states, particularly in UP, which is the biggest in size and politically crucial,” said a party functionary.Commenting on the targets set for the expansion of the party, Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan said Nadda turned to his predecessor Amit Shah while exhorting the BJP members to increase the party’s footprint. “In 2014, Shah had set targets, many of which we achieved such as (winning) Assam, Tripura and many other states in the North East. He had said utkarsh aana baki hai (peak is yet to come) and Nadda repeated this,” Pradhan said.Pradhan, who is also incharge of the UP polls, said that even as the party faces challenges in states such as Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, it has shown exponential growth in states such as West Bengal. He was referring to the BJP having increased its vote share in the state where it now has about 70 legislators and 18 MPs.During the brainstorming about the upcoming elections, the chief ministers of four poll-bound states made a presentation on the work done by their government and gave an account of their poll preparedness. UP CM Adityanath spoke about his government’s decision to offer oil, salt and sugar from December to March 2022 in addition to grains and pulses free of charge to households headed by women and to antyodaya card holders.Another leader said the PM exhorted the party functionaries and ministers to “not ignore or overlook” the workers who form the backbone of the party. “He asked them to remain accessible to them and also address their concerns,” the leader said, asking not to be named.Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the 18-point political resolution applauded the achievements of the Modi government on several fronts, including the work done during the pandemic, the vaccination programme, India’s fresh commitments made at COP26, the developments taking place in Jammu and Kashmir following the reading down of Article 370 and on the foreign policy front.The resolution appreciated the Modi government for delivering corruption-free governance with emphasis on digital payments and transparency, Sitharaman said. She said the resolution that was moved by the UP CM and seconded by the president of the Tamil Nadu unit, K Annamalai, appreciated the “methodical way” in which India’s image was shaped abroad and also condemned how the Opposition indulged in politics of opportunism.“The opposition parties were absent during the pandemic but confined themselves to Twitter to spread suspicion (about the vaccine) and spread conspiracies,” she said.Referring to the post-poll violence in West Bengal, Sitharaman said: “The party is committed to stand with every party worker and shall seek justice through the court.”On the issue of the continuing famers agitation in poll-bound Punjab, in parts of UP and Haryana, and the demand to repeal the farm laws passed in Parliament, she said the Union government is ready for discussions with the protesting farmers but they have not been able to explain what their objections are.

Hindustan Times

08-11-2021

India