New Delhi: Organise surya namaskar competitions to improve social outreach, visit the homes of freedom fighters, and get feedback from people on the ground about the Union government’s schemes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi advised Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs from Uttar Pradesh Friday.
He also suggested that they hold sports events, and form bonds with party workers such as booth pramukhs in their constituencies by attending their family functions, according to legislators who attended the meeting.
The PM spoke to 36 BJP MPs from the poll-bound state over breakfast at his official residence in Delhi Friday. Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra ‘Teni’, a Lok Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh, was not present at the meeting, amid calls for his resignation.
This was part of a series of such breakfast meetings — Modi had already spoken to party MPs from Madhya Pradesh Tuesday and those from the southern states Wednesday. He will meet the remaining legislators from Uttar Pradesh and those from Uttarakhand next week.
Engaging with the people and party workers
Friday’s meeting was an informal one according to the MPs, with Modi asking them about their constituency work, feedback from people on the ground about the Centre’s schemes, and what could be done to improve the targeted delivery of these schemes.
Modi also asked the legislators about the political activities they were undertaking to engage with the people, and about the popular response to the ‘Sansad’ sports tournaments that many MPs have organised, after Modi had suggested it at a meeting of the BJP Parliamentary Party.
“He has vast experience of public life and he tells us to adopt new practices to engage with the people. As many people don’t come to political events, he advised us to reach out to them with social and cultural events like sports competitions, surya namaskar competitions, and Fit India competitions,” an MP who was at the breakfast told ThePrint.
“Through these events, we can engage non-political people, and get a sense of their feelings about the government’s work,” added the MP.
In addition, the Prime Minister asked for their feedback and the responses they had received about the ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ events organised by the government to celebrate the 75th year of independence.
He also suggested that the MPs visit the homes of freedom fighters and honour unsung heroes. “Such gestures can move people,” said another MP.
Modi advised the MPs to engage booth-level workers — the party’s “primary footsoldiers” — more actively, by meeting them in small groups or regularly attending their family functions. The workers would remember this and be motivated, he said, according to the MPs.
The MPs also recounted that in many such meetings, Modi has spoken about how he would call old party workers during the pandemic to check on their wellbeing, a gesture that moved them. “We have always kept such things in mind. Politics is an extension of social work. If you stand for people, people will stand for you,” said an MP.
(Edited by Rohan Manoj)
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