The BJP has asked all its state units to mobilise efforts down to the mandal and booth levels on September 25, to achieve the one crore mark at the end of the day. (PTI File)
“This is probably the best way to remember Panditji as we are anyway in the middle of a nationwide membership drive,” said a BJP leader
The Bharatiya Janata Party has planned a special membership drive to add one crore primary members on September 25, the birthday of Deendayal Upadhyaya or Panditji, leader of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), the forerunner of the BJP.
“This is probably the best way to remember Panditji as we are anyway in between a nationwide membership drive,” said a BJP leader, requesting anonymity. “The BJP uses party’s red-letter days to bring momentum to drives such as this which it believes is the best way to observe the day. For Prime Minister Narendra Modiji’s 71st birthday, on September 17, 2021, 2.26 crore Covid-19 vaccines were administered in a single day in India, a record-breaking number compared to the regular figures,” the BJP leader added.
The party has asked all its state units to mobilise efforts down to the mandal and booth levels on September 25, to achieve the one-crore mark at the end of the day.
Until September 20, the BJP touched the four-crore mark. While several memberships are registered as renewal of existing memberships, it is unclear whether they are included in the four crore. The membership drive was kicked off by renewal of PM Modi’s primary membership of the party on October 2.
The Prime Minister, while renewing his membership, had suggested that the BJP should start with ‘C grade polling booths’ — the weakest ones — and asked the party to focus on aspirational blocks and booths and border villages, to target those in the 18-25 age bracket and, finally, focus on tribal areas.
During his speech, he also told the BJP leadership that this membership drive will also see the implementation of 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and State assemblies, while urging party members to get as many women members as possible as the future leaders of the BJP.
While focussing on the benchmark set by PM Modi, in the middle of the drive, the BJP also set an ambitious target for the states. “We have asked the states to enrol 75-80% of the votes received in the election as BJP members,” BJP General Secretary Vinod Tawde had earlier said.
