BJP believes that events like these ahead of Lok Sabha polls will help it connect with its urban, professional constituency and balance its rural-urban outreach.
New Delhi: With an eye on the electorally significant youth constituency, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to address a townhall-like event in Surat on 30 January, for which the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is aiming to gather a sizeable audience of around 15,000.
The ‘New India Youth Conclave’ stems from the BJP’s concerted youth outreach strategy in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls, which are due in a few months.
The Surat event
According to highly-placed sources in the BJP, the conclave, which will be held at the Surat Indoor Stadium, will see the PM interact with youth and professionals, who are being picked through online applications.
The participants will include chartered accountants, company secretaries, doctors, lawyers and IT professionals, among others.
The party has pegged the capacity of the stadium at around 9,000, but plans to make arrangements for a live telecast just outside the venue to accommodate the remaining people.
The idea, sources said, is to get the PM to engage with a large audience of professionals from his home state and “showcase his youth connect”, while sending out a message to young voters across the country.
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BJP’s youth outreach
The BJP wants to capitalise on what it believes to be PM Modi’s continued popularity among the youth. In fact, yet another youth-centred programme — ‘Pariksha pe Charcha’ — will see Modi interact with students, teachers and parents about examinations and related stress on 29 January.
In other youth-related programmes, the BJP Yuva Morcha plans to organise online competitions and campaigns, a ‘Nation with NaMo’ writers’ conclave, yuva sammelans (youth conclaves) at the district level, as well as a two-day youth festival between 1 to 15 February.
According to sources, the BJP has been concerned about the narrative of the young and professional voter being disillusioned because of an absence of adequate jobs.
The party, the sources added, also wants to ensure that the BJP’s urban base does not feel alienated in its effort to pander to the rural electorate as well as farmers.
Sustained events like these ahead of polls, the party feels, help it connect with its urban, professional constituency and strike the rural-urban balance.
The PM has held a series of townhalls in the past. The last one, held in October in New Delhi, saw him interact with IT professionals as he launched the “Main Nahin Hum” portal and app, which seek to provide a platform for social-service-based collaboration between professionals and the government.
Also read: Mega shows like Narendra Modi’s pet ‘Vibrant Gujarat’ do not bring investments or jobs
MARTA HUA AUR KYA MANGE. JAISE JISKI SOCH. BHAI UNKO KAHO UPAR AKASH ME TARE GINE. ZAMIN UNKE LAYAK NAHI HAI.THANK YOU.
Mahesh Langa – who reports from Ahmedabad for the Hindu – found the Vibrant Gujarat event to be vapid, suggested it should be discontinued. Economy mein Josh nahin hai.