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.
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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.
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