Amit Shah asks BJP workers to focus on social issues

Bengaluru: The BJP national executive, the first-ever after the party came to power at the Centre, on Friday started with a call by party president Amit Shah to engage party workers in social campaigns like that on the girl child and train workers for political activism.

Shah also lauded the 10-month work of the Narendra Modi-led government, saying it has brought a perceptive change in the system of governance by bringing in transparency and ended policy paralysis, where the Ministers were empowered unlike in the past when even the Prime Minister was not.

In his inaugural address to the executive, Shah said this meeting was being held amid enthusiasm that the party has emerged as the largest one that is set to have 10 crore members and there is need to convert the members into active workers, for which the party will run two campaigns for reaching out to the new members and for training around 15 lakh workers for political activism.

Shah earlier inaugurated the two-day event along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and was flanked by BJP veteran L K Advani and Leader of House and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on the dais.

The executive meeting took off with the lighting of the traditional lamp by Modi, Shah and Advani.

The BJP chief also described 2014 as the year of victory for the BJP, which brought the party to power at the Centre and later also saw BJP governments in states like Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand and in partnership in Jammu and Kashmir.

"Shah was very happy that the first meeting of BJP was held in Delhi on August 9 (Kranti Diwas) where we celebrated the formation of first-ever non-Congress government with full majority of its own in the country after Independence.2014 was the year of victory for BJP, where BJP governments are in place in 12 states, including in eight states of its own, which he termed as a big achievement.

"When we are meeting today, we are meeting as the largest party in the world, which is due to the efforts of the party workers," Union Minister Prakash Javadekar told reporters said quoting Shah.

Listing out the various social campaigns that the party wants its workers to be involved in, Shah said the party has to fulfil the dream of Mahatma Gandhi in making the country free from manual scavenging, which is considered a blot on our society.

Under the campaign, the party workers would reach out to 23 lakh such persons involved in manual scavenging and help them rehabilitate in other occupations.

The BJP chief also laid stress on partymen taking forward the ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ campaign, which will help in create gender sensitivity and also stop female foeticide.

"We want to ensure that the girls should go to school and become an empowered and proud citizen of this country," Shah said.

He also listed out the 'Swachh Bharat' and 'Namami Ganga' initiative for creating awareness across the country on the Clean Ganga project.

"These non-political initiatives will show that BJP is a party with a difference. Other parties do only politicking and we want to go beyond politics and want to engage our workers in such concrete non-political campaigns which are essentially social reform campaigns," Javadekar said quoting Shah.

Speaking about the successful membership drive for which he lauded the efforts of party workers across the country, he said, the party would soon announce a mass contact programme that would reach out to each and every member across the country and help him turn into an active member.

He also said the party will embark on a major programme to train over 15 lakh workers in political activism, that plan for which will be laid on the concluding day tomorrow.

"For the mass contact programme, we will go door-to-door to talk and discuss with each member to turn them into workers. Because members are sympathisers, but we have to make them real workers," Javadekar said, adding "the programme's period and time table will be declared tomorrow." "It is not necessary that the party workers should do only political activity, they must also do social activity.

For this we are launching social campaigns," he said quoting Shah.

Shah said BJP is the only party, which is a true democratic party where internal democracy is intact and "our leadership is not because of heredity but through their own hard work".