PM Modi Tells BJP MPs: Respond To Opposition Attack With People-Centric Programmes

Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked Bharatiya Janata Party MPs on Tuesday not to let any negative campaign affect their outreach with the people, as a logjam in Parliament and war of words with the opposition continue over the disqualification of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

Modi urged them to promote the welfare schemes of the government by drawing up concerted "people-centric" programmes, specifically from May 15 to June 15, coinciding with the ninth anniversary of the ruling dispensation.

According to a Member of Parliament who spoke on the condition of anonymity, Modi expects the attacks of the opposition to get deeply personal and below the belt after the BJP's spectacular victory in the Gujarat assembly election.

The Prime Minister reminded the parliamentarians that programmes like the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao campaign helped improve the sex ratio in Gujarat and that they should focus on bringing about positive changes in society.

The attacks have worsened since the Congress lost the northeastern states, and they will only become sharper in the coming days as the BJP continues to grow stronger, the MP quoted above said. His advice to us was that we must respond to it by strengthening our outreach with the development narrative and social participation, the person said.

Modi specifically asked them to make their party programmes worker-centric, ensure that every BJP worker is respected, and increase the participation of beneficiaries of different government schemes, according to two other MPs, who also spoke on condition of anonymity.

One of the MPs said the Prime Minister made it clear that the MPs should not think of everything politically and push for meaningful social changes by supporting people on the ground who were doing exemplary work.

According to one of the MPs mentioned above, Modi said that service to people is important. He asked them to draw up plans, consult each other, use new tools that are available to strengthen communication, and implement effective outreach plans for 30 days, starting from May 15, the MP said.

Modi's address to the MPs comes at a time when the opposition parties have joined hands over the disqualification of Gandhi as a Lok Sabha MP, following his conviction in a defamation case by a Surat court. The Parliament has also not been able to function, with the opposition demanding a joint parliamentary committee to probe the Adani issue, and the BJP asking for an apology from Gandhi for the comments he made in the U.K.

Since the beginning of the Parliament session, ministers and BJP leaders have been lashing out at Gandhi for undermining the government on foreign soil and, after his disqualification, for allegedly insulting the entire Other Backward Class community. While referring to Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi at a 2019 rally in Karnataka, Gandhi had asked why all thieves were called Modi, in an apparent reference to the PM's surname—which the court found was defamatory and gave him a two-year sentence.

According to people with knowledge of the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the BJP will be increasing its outreach activities in the days to come.

BJP OBC Morcha President K Laxman said the party would launch a massive campaign to reach out to the community across the country from the BJP's foundation day on April 6 to BR Ambedkar's birth anniversary on April 14.

BJP President JP Nadda will kickstart the campaign from Manesar, Haryana. The party's OBC MPs will also have a discussion with Nadda over dinner on Wednesday on the prominent aspects of the campaign.

"It will be a door-to-door campaign, and we will show clearly the difference between the Modi government's development and the UPA's insulting of the OBCs," Laxman said.

The other morchas are also in the process of drawing up their programmes, according to party officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.