New Delhi: BJP national president J.P. Nadda has asked party MPs to come up with e-books detailing the work they have done in the last few months in handling the Covid-19 pandemic, ThePrint has learnt.
According to BJP leaders, Nadda has told MPs to popularise these e-books on social media to counter the narrative of the government’s lacklustre efforts to contain the pandemic and to also highlight Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s daily efforts to fight Covid.
On Thursday, Nadda held a meeting with MPs of Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Goa, and Uttarakhand in this regard.
BJP president of Rajasthan Satish Punia, Maharashtra unit president Chandrakant Patil and Uttarakhand chief Banshidhar Bhagat were present, besides general secretaries of these states. Both Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha MPs of these states were also present.
This was Nadda’s first interaction with party MPs of different states to check their contribution during the pandemic in organising relief camps, helping migrants, ramping up testing capabilities and capacity-building of health infrastructure, among others.
“We have been told to make e-books of our work, which we have done in the last few months, particularly to fight Covid. How we have done seva (service) work during the pandemic from supplying food, masks, to making space available for quarantine facilities, reaching out to Covid patients and contribution to PM’s Atma Nirbhar Bharat abhiyan,” said Chandra Prakash Joshi, an MP from Rajasthan, who was present at the meeting.
Also read: BJP struggles to spread Modi’s atmanirbhar message, meets only 30% of its target
‘Any relaxed approach may backfire’
Another MP, present in the meeting, who didn’t want to be named, told ThePrint many MPs are not making efforts to popularise PM’s Atma Nirbhar Abhiyan and the government’s efforts to tackle the pandemic.
“The party president said this battle (against Covid) is long, so any relaxed approach may backfire. That’s why MPs have been told to constantly remain active in work and then popularise it,” he added.
A senior BJP leader, also present in the meeting, told ThePrint: “The government is making every effort to fight the long battle against Covid — whether it is about ramping up testing, capacity-building or vaccine-manufacturing. The PM daily takes review meetings. He tirelessly works 17-18 hours a day. This message has to go down to the bottom strata of the society.
“Every member of the party — whether it’s the state president or an MP or MLA — has to be in action mode until the Covid threat goes away. We are fighting two challenges nationally — one is Covid and another one is the bad shape of the economy. Covid battle will be long, so the organisation has to fight, serve the poor, complement the government’s efforts and counter the negative publicity if any political parties try to exploit the situation,” he added.
PM’s review
Last Saturday, the PM reviewed via video conference the work done by various state units as part of the ‘Seva hi Sangathan Abhiyan’.
Under this, party workers have done relief work, including helping the migrants, providing face masks, food packets and ration.
In his speech, Modi said the campaign was the biggest seva yagna undertaken by the BJP.
The prime minister also praised a few state units like Rajasthan, Bihar and Maharashtra for their active involvement in providing relief to people during Covid.
Also read: How BJP chief Nadda planned 500 ‘rallies’, spreading PM message, Covid outreach in lockdown