After 15 days of disruption and lack of legislative work in Parliament, multiple notices of no confidence motion against the Central government, the BJP told its MPs to use the intervening weekend before Parliament resumes to hold press conferences in their constituencies and tell their constituents “the truth about the disruptions” — of how a “frustrated and hopeless opposition” was blocking Parliament.
An elaborate calender of 20 days, between April 14 (Ambedkar Jayanti) and May 5 was also unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to mark and celebrate important welfare programmes started by his government.
Both Prime Minister Modi and BJP president Amit Shah addressed the BJP’s parliamentary party group at the new party headquarters in New Delhi on Friday evening, and made these announcements.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi rather than addressing the MPs, held a dialogue with them. He pointed out to the new headquarters, and said that the party’s work culture should be reflected in all our headquarters from district level to national. We are not a party that runs out of someone’s home (a possible reference to the Congress party and 10 Janpath, the residence of former party president Sonia Gandhi),” said Union Minister for Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar after the nearly four-hour meeting.
“He also narrated anecdotes from the past, specifically about our late leader Sundar Singh Bhandariji, who, Prime Minister Modi said, used to listen to the news on the radio, the only gadget available at that time and come up with ideas about how to take the party’s work forward. In the same way, Prime Minister Modi said, BJP leaders and workers should use whatever latest technology is available to them, be it social media or otherwise to tell people the true state of things. Why Parliament is being obstructed by an Opposition that appears to be doing so out of a sense of frustration,” added Mr. Javadekar.
Mr. Shah, he said, had specifically asked MPs to use the three-day weekend between now and Tuesday (when Parliament is set to reconvene) to hold press conferences to explain to the people why no work has been happening in both Houses. “He has asked MPs to explain how the Opposition is opposing for the sake of opposition,” said Mr. Javadekar.
A presentation on the 115 aspirations districts specially marked out by the Niti Aayog for targeted development across 48 parameters was also made to the MPs.
Prime Minister Modi also unveiled an elaborate calendar of events starting from April 14 to May 5 to mark the various welfare programmes launched and run by his government, given the all encompassing title of Gram Swarajya Abhiyaan. Giving details, BJP’s media in charge, Anil Baluni said that April 14 would be celebrated as Social Justice day, April 18 for Swachcha Bharat or sanitation say, April 20 will mark the Ujjwala Yojana for providing cooking gas to Below Poverty Line (BPL) families, April 24 as Panchayati Raj day, April 30 to mark the health insurance scheme announced recently, May 2 as Kisan Kalyan or farmers welfare day, and May 5 for employment and skill development. “All party leaders, ministers and office bearers will participate in these programmes across the country,” said Mr. Baluni.
Usually the parliamentary party meet of the BJP takes place every Tuesday in the parliament’s library building when the session is on. This departure of shifting the venue and date and time was, say senior leaders to meet with MPs in the new party headquarters and also to provide a sense of urgency to events as General Elections are just a year away. “Mr. Shah also stressed that booth level strengthening of the organisation has to continue as it continues to be our strength and has been a factor in the last 10 elections that we have won,” said Mr. Javadekar.
