BJP’s Kamal Mitras to connect with women in each Lok Sabha constituency
Ahead of 2024 polls, these campaigners will be trained to impart details of 15 women-centric schemes of the central government in nine languages
LUCKNOW Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP has decided to create a band of 200 dedicated women campaigners in each Lok Sabha constituency across the country.
These campaigners, referred as ‘Kamal Mitras’ (Kamal or Lotus is BJP’s election symbol), would connect with women voters and be trained to impart details of 15 women-centric schemes of the central government in nine languages, including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Odia, Gujarati, Marathi and Bengali.
“Around 150 Kamal Mitras for UP would be trained on Friday. They will then train more women, and this shall continue,” said Chetna Pandey of UP BJP’s women wing. They would receive online training at a 90-minute session from the UP BJP’s headquarters in Lucknow.
The decision to prepare friendly women campaigners, who would connect with women in each LS constituency, has special relevance in UP where women have started winning elections in a big way. In 2019 Lok Sabha polls, of the 78 women who won from across the country, 11 were from UP. These 11 winners emerged from about 104 women contestants from the state and eight of them were from BJP.
In 2022 UP polls, 47 women, highest since independence, won with 29 lawmakers on BJP symbol, followed by 14 of the main opposition Samajwadi Party.
Party leaders admitted that women driven by “pro-people welfare measures of the double engine Modi-Yogi governments” had voted for the BJP in a big way. The trend continued in the recent civic polls, where six of the 17 mayors, who won on BJP symbol, were women. Women also won several seats for municipal council chief’s posts, municipalities and city panchayats.
“It is simple. More women are finding political acceptance across the country, including UP. That also means that women have started expressing themselves in a big way, not just as contestants or campaigners but as voters too. That perhaps explains why the party has decided to create a band of women campaigners,” said AP Tiwari, political analyst.
