BJP to roll out ‘gaon chalo’ campaign in U.P. from Feb

In the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP has decided to embark on a “gaon chalo (head to villages)” campaign from February in Uttar Pradesh, party leaders confirmed.

This decision was taken at a meeting of the party’s top brass in Uttar Pradesh in the presence of chief minister Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow on Thursday.

That villages are central to the BJP plan is already apparent from the party’s drive to connect with all the 58000 villages through the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra through which the party has rolled out a mega doorstep delivery of government schemes across the state.

The Thursday’s meeting was held in Lucknow a day after the party leaders got together in Ayodhya to finalise the “Ayodhya Darshan” plan, as part of which the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party intends to facilitate temple visits of pilgrims from across the country.

BJP’s national general secretary Vinod Tawde gave details of the party’s ‘village connect’ drive at the Lucknow meeting in which both deputy chief ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak were also present.

“During the ‘gaon chalo’ campaign, the party leaders and cadres would spend nights in villages and hold dialogue with farmers over chaupals,” Tawde said at the meeting. Chaupals are small get-togethers of the local population in rural settings and party leaders indicated that ministers, too, would be part of the campaign.

“At these chaupals, the party cadres would talk about the various rural outreach measures of the double engine BJP governments of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Centre and chief minister Yogi Adityanath in UP,” Tawde said. He recalled how since 2014 Lok Sabha polls the people in rural UP have been “showering love” on the BJP.

While ‘gaon chalo’ campaigns are not new, this time the campaigns with rural focus are aimed at conveying in villages how the party under Prime Minister Narendra Modi is blending “Ram and Ram Rajya”, taking care of people’s religious beliefs while simultaneously ensuring that the people get to experience “tangible benefits” of BJP rule.

Tawde disclosed that keeping the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in mind, the BJP would prepare its election strategy by creating a cluster of about 20 Lok Sabha constituencies.

U.P. BJP chief Bhupendra Chaudhary said the party’s state unit was ready with its plan to ensure that the party under Prime Minister Narendra Modi registers a record third consecutive win at the Centre.

“We assure the central unit of taking up all campaigns with full commitment and with the goal of fueling the party campaign for a third consecutive win,” Chaudhary said.

State BJP general secretary (organisation) Dharampal Singh said at the meeting that the party has already started booth level “wall writing” campaign to reinforce the common man’s attention towards the pro-poor policies that BJP had initiated under Modi at the Centre and Yogi Adityanath in UP.

“All BJP leaders right from the state level to the booth level are being appointed panna pramukhs,” Singh said. The concept of ‘panna pramukh’ - essentially a micro level poll management exercise - refers to a leader tasked with the responsibility of connecting with voters listed on a page on the voters’ list. The concept was introduced by present Union home minister Amit Shah when he was in Gujarat.

“We have decided to hold two meetings in each assembly segment from January 24 to focus on first-time voters. These meetings to be called ‘nav-matdata sammelan (new voter meets)’ would see us connecting with first-time voters,” Dharampal Singh said. The BJP has also formulated plans to connect with youth in colleges and hostels, he said.

The BJP has also started delegating work, tasking booth level committees with the exercise of getting the voters “to come out and vote” in April-May Lok Sabha polls and then shoulder different responsibilities after the polls.