Party organises first mock parliament for the youth in New Delhi, urges them to shun the Congress brand of dynasty politics.
New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party organised its first mock parliament Saturday, an initiative pushed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself ahead of the big 2019 elections. And its central message to young voters: reject the dynasty politics practised by the Congress for decades.
“This is not a party that practices dynastic politics, nepotism and favouritism,” said Shyam Jaju, national vice-president of the BJP, in his inaugural address to the youth parliament session in the national capital.
“We are a cadre-based party, and we and the PM depend on people who emerge from the ground. We believe in building a new generation of leaders,” he told the youth, most of whom were members of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha.
BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri, who participated in the mock session himself as the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, too made sure to drive home the point that the Congress’s politics of dynasty is something that must be rejected by the youth.
“If your shehzada Rahul Gandhi was not born from a queen’s womb, he would also be selling pakodas… If your leader Sonia Gandhi was not married to Rajiv, she would have been working as a receptionist in Italy,” he said amid cheers from the crowd.
Incidentally, two of Bidhuri’s nephews, who are also party workers, were present at the event initiated by the MP.
In a recent ‘Mann ki Baat’ address to the nation, Prime Minister Modi had talked about organising mock parliaments for the youth. “We can have mock parliaments in all our districts, where we discuss how to make development a mass movement and transform India,” he had said.
Bidhuri said events like this would help the party gain traction. “Through a discussion on various schemes of the government, ideological debates, etc. among the youth, the party will obviously gain popularity,” he said.
Planned questions, sharp jibes
The heated mock session, which was peppered with sharp jibes from both the ‘government’ and ‘opposition’, saw issues like demonetisation, GST, jobs, corruption, etc. being discussed.
However, the questions had already been planned and the opposition – even though sharp in its attacks on the government –largely consisted of members of the BJP itself.
Amit Singh, 25, a member of the ‘opposition’, said: “We are all from the BJP’s Yuva Morcha. This event is an attempt to teach youngsters like me how democracy operates at the highest levels… If we don’t learn, we would also be sleeping in Parliament like Rahul Gandhi when we climb up the political ladder.
“We hope the feedback we give and the issues we raise reach the PM through this platform.”
Light on Hindutva
While the mock session debate steered clear of controversial subjects like the Ram temple in Ayodhya, Article 370 of the Constitution, lynchings, etc., subtle Hindutva symbols remained in the backdrop nevertheless.
The session started with the organisers exhorting the participants to chant slogans of ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ and ‘Vande Mataram’. In the backdrop, were images of Swami Vivekananda and depictions of Bharat Mata.
“There will be some politics, and then the event will go ahead just as the actual Parliament operates,” Jaju had said at the start.