New Delhi: With 2027 assembly election in its sights, the BJP’s Uttarakhand unit is bracing for an influx of leaders from rival parties, including the Congress—and it wants to make sure they arrive ideologically equipped.
The party has decided to conduct what it is calling ‘Sanatani training’ for new entrants, with modules on nationalism, Hindutva and work culture among others currently being put together. The idea, a BJP leader said, is to ensure those who join are well-versed with the party’s principles and ideology and can defend it better.
The training will also be extended to the large cohort of leaders who switched to the BJP ahead of the previous assembly elections and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Many within the BJP put that number in thousands, drawn from the Congress and other parties.
The Pushkar Singh Dhami-led government in Uttarakhand has long pursued what critics describe as a polarisation agenda, centred on campaigns against so-called ‘love jihad’, ‘land jihad’ and ‘thook jihad’. Party insiders say the turncoats who came from other parties need to understand this Hindutva plank better — and the training is meant to close that gap.
Pankaja Munde’s dogs popular on Instagram
Maharashtra Minister Pankaja Munde is one of those politicians who prefers to handle her own social media accounts—and her followers have been rewarded with glimpses of a life beyond the legislature.
Munde was once very active on Instagram, posting videos of herself in the kitchen and performing puja. Dog videos followed, and it was these that caught the attention of netizens.
The kitchen appearances have thinned out—time, she says, is the constraint—but the pujas continue regularly, and the videos still go up on YouTube and Instagram. As for the dogs, Munde now cheerfully acknowledges they have become famous in their own right, courtesy of their regular screen time.
(Edited by Prerna Madan)
Also Read: Ghazals meet politics at Chowmahalla Palace & why SP has roped in two political consultancies