If former president Pranab Mukherjee is going to be the chief guest at an RSS function on the invitation of the organisation's chief, Mohan Bhagwat, BJP president Amit Shah is personally reaching out to intellectuals. The aim behind Shah’s move is to get the intelligentsia on the side of the saffron party ahead of the 2019 general elections.
In a deeply connected world, people are increasingly relying on the statements by intellectuals, be it on social media or TV, to form their opinions. The BJP has sharpened its strategy from holding intellectual meets during election season to individually meeting the intellectuals and making them aware of the BJP's work and the achievements at the four-year milestone of the Narendra Modi government.
Shah started the campaign on Tuesday as he went to meet former army chief Dalbir Singh Suhag and then went to meet constitutional expert Subash Kashyap.
“As part of the ‘Sampark for Samarthan’ campaign, met former Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag ji at his home in Delhi to discuss and brief him on the several achievements and initiatives undertaken by Modi sarkar since it was voted to office 4 years ago,” Shah tweeted after his meeting with the retired army general.
After Shah, 4,000 other BJP leaders, which includes all its elected representatives like MPs, MLAs, councillors, and party office bearers will be reaching out. In an elaborate plan drawn up by the party, each of these 4,000 leaders will be interacting with at least 25-50 intellectuals including former Supreme Court and High Court judges, retired senior army and civil services officers and eminent personalities from the fields of cinema, arts, culture and sports.
The idea behind this move is to engage with the social influencers, who, in turn, would help keep the narrative positive towards the ruling party.
Interestingly, there have been reports that the Congress is planning a similar initiative to reach out to intellectuals, so that they can be connected to the party's ideology. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi has been aiming to turn the 2019 elections into a battle of ideologies as opposed to a clash of personalities.
The groundwork for the 2019 elections has already begun.