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BJP launches suggestion drive for manifesto, says India’s ‘mann ki baat’ is with Modi

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The BJP has also given a new slogan to go with the drive — ‘kaam kare jo, ummeed usi se ho’ — which reiterates PM Modi’s ‘kaamdaar’ image.

New Delhi: Weeks before the Lok Sabha polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party has once again centred its narrative on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who it says has listened to the nation’s mann ki baat (literally, voice of the heart) and delivered on it.

Party chief Amit Shah and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh Sunday launched a drive to crowd-source suggestions for its election manifesto, with the tag line ‘Bharat ke mann ki baat, Modi ke saath’. The party says this is a democratisation of the manifesto-writing exercise, which will be its standard practice from now on.

It has also given a new slogan to go with the drive — “kaam kare jo, ummeed usi se ho” (people place hope only in those who work).

With this slogan, the BJP is reiterating that Modi’s government is ‘kaamdaar’ (worker), not a ‘naamdaar’ (dynast) like Congress president Rahul Gandhi. Senior leaders present at the event said the slogan is a dig at the Congress, where “the leader needs regular breaks and needs to go on vacations”.

The slogan also seeks to downplay the controversy over senior minister Nitin Gadkari’s statement that political leaders who sell dreams and fail to meet them get “beaten up by the public”, by propagating PM Modi’s image as a hard worker.

Priority areas

According to Shah, the drive will last for one month, and people can get in touch with the party on its website, via email, and social media.

Additionally, about 300 raths with LED lights will do the rounds of all states to record the suggestions. Over 7,500 drop boxes will also be placed across the country, while a phone number has also been dedicated for it.

Singh, who is heading the manifesto committee, listed out areas in which suggestions are going to be categorised in the manifesto.

Priority areas for suggestions include development and good governance, agriculture, youth, women empowerment, inclusive growth including well-being of SCs, STs, OBCs, nomadic castes and others, science and technology, health and education, economy and trade, infrastructure, internal and external national security, foreign policy, cultural heritage and unorganised labour sector.

Senior ministers have been given charge of departments earmarked for suggestions, but the most interesting choice is that of former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who has been put in charge of interacting with farmers and collating their suggestions on agriculture. Radha Mohan Singh, the union agriculture minister, is conspicuously absent from the list.


Also read: Media positive on BJP’s poll budget bonanza


Shah mum on crucial issues

Some crucial issues were raised at the event, but Shah remained noncommittal.

On the Citizenship Amendment Bill, which has caused alarm among the BJP’s allies in the Northeast as well as within the party’s state units, he said: “It has been deliberated upon thoroughly and we are talking to parties from the Northeast. Consensus needs to be built to take it forward. We have had talks with few parties already, and all I can say is that the bill is imperative for the country.”

On issue of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, the BJP chief put the onus on opposition parties. “They need to clear their stand on Ram temple. We are still committed to its construction,” Shah said.


Also read: Budget stumps opposition but euphoria in the BJP camp misplaced


 

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4 COMMENTS

  1. Dear sir I have a suggestion related to digital India and easy way to collect taxes from people.Everyone who does the business from RS.1.00 to infinity should receive payment through digital mode like Paytm,Bhim, Googlepay,pay phone,debit cards, credit cards,upi and many more options.Every shopkeeper, school, street hawkers ,all other individuals and institutions offices should receive payment through digital mode and Tax should be deducted on per transaction basis on volume of amount from the payment receiver’s account.In that way every individual will take for the growth of our country.Kindly instruct all banking institutions to deliver the everything like swipe machines and other things to all including rehriwalas , street hawkers,and all individuals and other institutions to receive the payment through digital mode.There should not be any flow of money through cash transactions. It will help in growth of our economy as well as take control on corruption. Thanks and please work on this. Every individual should pay tax directly to Government through per transaction basis when it goes digital. please do the needful it is necessary for the development of our country. Regards-Praveen Kumar M.No.8384000206

  2. This is just a naive or desperate bid to garner votes — make the other guy feel important. I can predict the next step: anyone who sends a suggestion will receive a reply addressing the person by his her first name, signed by Amit Shah or perhaps even Narendra Modi, saying that “… Pragya (sender’s name), your suggestion is excellent. I am putting it down in our manifesto.”

    This way, if 2 crore people respond, BJP will think they have won the loyalty of those 2 crores people. Who knows, it might work, at least in some cases! We have a lot of simpletons in our country.

  3. Privatisation should be high on that list. All PSBs, barring perhaps SBI. Almost all PSUs, starting with Air India. Reform of the power sector, phasing out subsidies to agriculture in ten equated annual instalments. Giving poor children cash vouchers to study in private schools of their choice, with a corresponding reduction in enrolment in government / municipal schools. Freeing up the cattle trade completely, including unproductive cows. Dismantle FCI / PDS / public procurement of wheat and rice, again cash transfers to identified beneficiaries. Close down all APMCs, scrap the Essential Commodities Act. A very liberal FDI regime, including for multibrand retail. Join RCEP, plan for TPP. An FTA with the EU. A productive trilateral dialogue with China and Pakistan. Shut down AIR / Doordarshan / Prasad Bharati, give the media an overdose of freedom. Zero tolerance to hate crime, women’s safety a matter of national honour. A lot of good work is required to get India airborne. Since I don’t read party manifestos, do not know how many of these items have been dealt with.

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