The one difference between Atal Bihari Vajpayee's first tenure and Narendra Modi's first was the emphasis on building the party organisation when the party is in power. Modi reaped the benefits strengthening the organisation as he won a second tenure. To capitalise on the recent victory and prepare for the future elections, the BJP on Saturday launched a nationwide membership drive.
Prime Minister Modi, accompanied by BJP working president J.P. Nadda and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath launched the drive in Varanasi—Modi's Lok Sabha constituency—on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Jana Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mukherjee. The BJP has set a target of adding minimum 20 per cent new members to its existing 11 crore. The drive will continue till August 11.
“This drive will further connect people from all walks of life with the BJP family. It will strengthen our party,” Modi said.
The BJP's focus this time is on increasing its members in states like West Bengal, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha—the states where the party is yet to form government. BJP chief Amit Shah was in Telangana to launch the drive. He also went to a tribal family to signal its outreach to different social groups who have stayed away from the party.
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“Our purpose is to strengthen the party at the booth levels. We should aim at enrolling more members, not just at the booths where we are strong but also at those where we are not. We are an ideological party. The expansion of ideological parties may be slow, but it is sure and strong,” Shah said.
There is another reason for party to start its membership drive. In order to hold organisational elections for picking district, state and finally the national president, the party needs to conduct recruitment drive. The entire election process will get over by December-January when party will appoint a full-time new chief as Amit Shah has moved to the Union cabinet.
During the previous membership drive in 2015, the BJP had enrolled 11 crore members, but then many were later found missing as the party tried to verify the numbers. This time, even though new members are being enrolled through 'missed call'—where anyone can get enrolled to the party by giving a missed call to a designated number—the BJP workers have also been asked to get a form filled to reduce the chances of discrepancies.