New Delhi: Not taking party work seriously and not making enough of an effort to popularise the achievements of nine years of the Modi government — these are some of the reasons cited by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president J.P. Nadda for reprimanding some party MPs during a virtual meeting held Thursday, ThePrint has learnt.
Besides asking them to attend beneficiary conventions, Nadda instructed BJP MPs to update the details of their daily activities and public meetings on the party’s SARAL app. The BJP launched the SARAL (Sangathan reporting and analysis) app in February this year to connect its ground-level workers with its top national leaders and office bearers.
During the virtual meeting, Nadda expressed displeasure at the low number of downloads and missed call registrations garnered during the party’s month-long Maha Jansampark Abhiyan, which began on 31 May, to mark nine years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the helm.
As part of the Abhiyan, the BJP plans to reach 80 crore Indians. For this, the party has roped in nearly 227 leaders, including Union ministers and party functionaries, besides MPs and MLAs who have been asked to ensure its success in their respective states.
The party has also set a target to visit the homes of 5.5 lakh distinguished Indians including Padma awardees, cricketers and prominent businessmen, among others.
In a bid to shore up its primary membership numbers, the BJP even launched a missed call campaign to allow supporters or sympathisers to become a member of the party.
A BJP functionary who was part of the virtual meet Thursday told ThePrint that emphasis was laid on the month-long drive during which the party is organising programmes across the country to popularise the achievements of the Modi-led BJP government at the Centre.
“But it was observed that many MPs were not actively participating in the drive to spread the word about the Modi government’s achievements. The party president reprimanded MPs who were either less active or weren’t keeping the party’s central leadership abreast with their activities or updating the same on the SARAL app,” said the functionary.
Another BJP MP who attended the virtual meeting said Nadda informed legislators that he was constantly monitoring their activities and that they should take the work assigned to them by the party seriously.
“He (Nadda) normally does not become harsh but he was annoyed that a few MPs were not taking the Maha Jansampark seriously. He was also annoyed by the fact that MPs were not making extra efforts to increase the downloads of the NaMo App or realising that extra efforts were needed to record more missed call registrations,” the MP added.
A third legislator said Nadda reminded BJP MPs that the PM’s programme to connect with 10 lakh party workers and functionaries on 27 June is still on the cards, besides the event celebrating the birth anniversary of Syama Prasad Mookerjee on 24 June and the Mann Ki Baat programmes.
Nadda further told them that “large participation is needed and MPs should devote their time to make these programmes a grand success”, said the BJP legislator from Uttar Pradesh.
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Social media influencers
A fourth MP who attended the virtual meeting said party legislators were instructed to ensure ample participation for the PM’s Mann Ki Baat which has been brought forward due to his three-day state visit to the US later this month.
“But the party president’s main focus was on urging MPs to enhance their public outreach and to meet people at their doorstep since the Lok Sabha election is approaching and there is still time left for last-minute finish,” said the BJP legislator from Madhya Pradesh.
He added that during the interaction, many MPs also brought up the issues they were facing with the submission of their details on the SARAL app.
Further, Nadda sought details from BJP MPs about whether they had prepared a list of YouTubers and social media influencers in their assigned constituencies and how many of them they had already met.
The BJP has instructed party leaders and office bearers to rope in “neutral” social media influencers who will meet the party’s central leadership during their visits to the respective districts, said the BJP legislator from UP.
Every district unit has been asked to identify 100 such influencers, party sources said, adding that leaders have also been told to listen closely during their interactions with these social media influencers to get a sense of the sentiments on the ground.
The party hopes to eventually include such influencers in its digital army tasked with promoting the Modi government’s work.
During the virtual meeting, Nadda asked MPs to submit a list of such social media influencers to the party head office and the party’s national general secretary Tarun Chugh at the earliest.
Nadda had emphasised all of these points during an interaction with senior party leaders last week during which he told them to ensure that these interactions with social media influencers don’t turn into speeches, sources added.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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