Taking the party campaign of making ‘Sonar Bangla’ (Golden Bangla) a step further, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president J.P. Nadda on Thursday launched the party’s new outreach programme ‘Lokkho Sonar Bangla’ (Target Golden Bangla).
Under this scheme, announced weeks before the State goes to the polls, the BJP will invite suggestions from March 3 to 20, through boxes that will be made available in all the 294 Assembly segments.
Mr. Nadda, who launched the campaign from the party office in Kolkata, said that along with the 30,000 boxes there would be LED vans where people could give suggestions digitally.
“The BJP wants to work for the development of Bengal. Under the ‘Lokkho Sonar Bengal’ we want suggestions from the people of the State on all kinds of issues,” Mr. Nadda said. The party was seeking suggestion on how to give a push to industry, agriculture, health and religious tourism among other sectors. The BJP president said that the aim of the campaign was to take the State on the path of development, free of corruption.
The campaign is another attempt by the BJP to connect to masses. Prior to this, the party started five “Parivartan Yatra” across the State. During the past several public meetings, the BJP leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had emphasised on the slogan ‘Sonar Bangla’.
“We are at a crucial juncture where the people of West Bengal have to decide whether they want development or they want to side with the culture of corruption and cut money,” Mr. Nadda said. He also emphasised that the “pride of Bengal has to be restored”.
Meanwhile, the BJP leadership has alleged that police denied permission to its ‘parivartan yatra’ in Barrackpore on Thursday. Mr. Nadda is likely to address a public meeting at Barrackpore later in the day.
Later in the day, Mr. Nadda visited the ancestral house of novelist, poet Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay at Naihati and had lunch at the house of a jute mill worker in the area. Addressing a rally at Barrackpore, he criticised Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for the language used against the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister at a rally in Hooghly on Wednesday.
“The TMC should be sent for ‘aaram’ (rest) and the BJP should be given ‘kaam’ (work) after the Assembly polls,” he said.
The BJP president also raised the issue of the Chief Minister’s letter to Prime Minister on vaccination. The people of West Bengal were eagerly awaiting vaccination against extortion and cut money and well as the implementation of Ayushman Bharat and PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, he added.
